By Richard Rainey
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
RIVER RIDGE, La. — After a season of controversy within the 3rd District Volunteer Fire Department, its professional firefighters have formed a labor union.
The new collective bargaining group will give the paid staff a stronger voice within the mostly volunteer force that protects River Ridge and parts of western Metairie, said Baron Schwing, its interim president.
The union has been recognized by the International Association of Fire Fighters and the Professional Fire Fighters Association of Louisiana. Whether the volunteer firefighters who run the 3rd District do the same, however, is another matter.
“We don’t know if they’re going to recognize us,” Schwing said. If not, “we’ll keep trying. It’s not going to be some kind of major disaster. We don’t expect everyone to roll over and say, ‘Come on in.’ If they say no, then we’ll go back, regather and at the next meeting ask again.”
Reached last week, department spokesman Jody Sanderson said he had not heard that a union had formed. The department’s administrators were out of town and unavailable to comment until after the Thanksgiving weekend, he said.
The 3rd District Department is a private, nonprofit entity that has a contract with Jefferson Parish to fight fires in an area with a population of more than 40,000.
Talk of a union began in February, Schwing said. At the time, parish officials had launched an investigation into reports that the department filed with the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana, which influences insurance rates around the state.
The investigation alleged that the treasurer, Eric Kramer, had falsified the number and names of firefighters responding to fires in order to garner better insurance rates for businesses and residents.
Kramer and his father, former Fire Chief Steve Kramer, were suspended in May. Since then, the department has cycled through several leaders. Now the district attorney’s office is examining the matter.
Schwing said the management upheaval did not directly lead to the union’s coalescence. While paid employees want more say in the department’s management, he said, the long-term reason for banding together is to influence firefighter-friendly legislation in the state Legislature. For instance, the 3rd District’s professional firefighters are hoping for retirement benefits that mimic those in the state’s civil service plan, Schwing said.
The new 3rd District union will represent 11 members of the paid staff, Schwing said. Three other paid employees have not joined, including a district chief who was ineligible because of his management position, he said. Elections will be held in December to pick permanent leaders.
Chad Major, president of the Professional Fire Fighters Association of Louisiana, confirmed that his organization and the international union were supporting the 3rd District group.
“People choose (firefighting) for a career because there’s something inside them that they want to help people,” Major said.
He said the object of the union is to work with the administration to build a better fire department.
“That’s an admirable thing,” he said.
Copyright 2008 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company