By Stephanie Warsmith
The Akron Beacon Journal
AKRON, Ohio — If 38 Akron firefighters aren’t laid off Thursday, they likely would be laid off early next year anyway.
And they’d be better off being laid off now than later.
That’s how Phil Gauer, president of the fire union, sees the impending layoffs of the department’s rookies.
“We’re looking at their long-term welfare,” said Gauer, adding that the rookies agree with him.
If the firefighters are laid off now, Gauer said, they will be eligible for discounted health insurance and the city might be able to apply for federal stimulus funds this fall to bring them back. By early next year, he contends, both of these options likely would be gone.
City leaders, however, think the more senior firefighters don’t want to defer the approximately $763,000 in longevity payments owed to them this year until 2012 — a concession Akron is seeking to eliminate the layoffs. There are 368 members in the fire union.
“They’re drawing for straws to justify not forgoing longevity,” said Jim Masturzo, deputy mayor of labor relations. “It’s simple. If they delayed payment, they save 38 jobs. If they don’t agree, the 38 jobs are gone. There’s no logic there.”
Wednesday is the last day before layoffs — Akron’s first in 27 years — take effect.
The city issued 14-day layoff notices to 201 employees to help address a projected budget shortfall of as much as $8 million by the end of the year.
Because of agreements with the other unions, among employees still facing layoffs are the firefighters, 43 seasonal employees in the recreation department — who are being let go a month earlier than usual — eight non-bargaining employees and three blue-collar workers with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
Deal rejected
AFSCME members overwhelmingly rejected an agreement with the city today that would have rescinded the layoff notices and guaranteed no layoffs through the end of this year. The 460-member union, in exchange, would have agreed to collect only half of the longevity payments — annual bonuses based on years of service — owed to them this year and the other half deferred until 2012.
“Yes, I’m upset,” said Bob Mathias, AFSCME’s president. “We’ve got three employees laid off and we have had no layoffs since 1982.”
The employees who are laid off might have bumping rights, can appeal their layoffs to the Civil Service Commission and will be eligible for callbacks.
The fire union wanted a no-layoffs guarantee into next year, which the city was unwilling to give.
Gauer said the union might have accepted an agreement with a layoff moratorium through March, which would have given the rookies at least six more months on the job.
City leaders, however, say they don’t know what’s going to happen with the economy the rest of this year.
“How do we forecast the future?” asked Finance Director Diane Miller-Dawson. “I wish we could. It’s not realistic. In this environment, it’s month by month.”
Gauer thinks the city will have layoffs early next year because the concessions agreed to by the four other unions weren’t enough to address the deficit. Plus, he said, the city will have a second round of payouts due for the 123 employees who took buyouts and are leaving Thursday.
Miller-Dawson said the union concessions were only part of how the city is bridging its deficit. Other steps included the buyouts, a FirstEnergy Corp. grant, and voluntary and mandatory furloughs. She said the buyouts, which will result in fewer salaries, health care and other benefit costs, will save money.
“What we asked for help with was a small piece,” she said. “It wasn’t the whole piece.”
Skeptical of promise
Besides questioning Akron’s financial outlook, Gauer also isn’t convinced the city would make good on its promise to pay longevity in 2012.
“Our guys look at it as this is the first step to taking back what’s taken years to get,” he said, adding that the city offered longevity pay as a trade-off for lower raises.
Masturzo said he promised the fire union — as well as the other bargaining units — that their agreements would be made into ordinances approved by the City Council.
“That’s the best guarantee I could give,” he said.
Gauer said he’s been told that fire departments will be eligible to apply for federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) stimulus funds in November. He’s heard the grants only will be available for firefighters who are laid off.
Fire Chief Larry Bunner said the rules for these grants haven’t yet been released and aren’t expected to come out until some time in October. He understands the funds will go toward either firefighters who are laid off or those facing layoffs.
Masturzo, who has 32 years with the city and is among the employees taking a buyout, was hoping to get an agreement with the fire union as his final act with the city. He said he knows some of the fire rookies are newly married, have young children or just bought houses.
Gauer said he’ll decide by Wednesday morning whether to put the city’s offer up for a vote. But he said his members would need a seven-day notice of the vote and he’s not sure whether the city would be open to this delayed timeline — or how the vote would go.
Mayor Don Plusquellic said today that the city’s offer to the fire union is only good through Wednesday. He said the other unions were able to vote on their agreements before the deadline.
“If they got an extension, it would cost money and might make it impossible for the city to balance its budget,” Plusquellic said. “It would not be fair to the other employees who have made sacrifices.”
Copyright 2009 Akron Beacon Journal