Firefighter at Walla Walla Airport resigns from post
By Pratik Joshi
Tri-City Herald (Washington)
Copyright 2007 Tri-City Herald
All Rights Reserved
WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Port of Walla Walla and a firefighters union may be heading for a yet another showdown following the resignation of one of the airport’s three rescue firefighters.
Port officials are not filling the position in order to save money, said Kevin Wesley, the port’s labor relations consultant. And beginning Friday, the two remaining crew members who work at the Walla Walla Airport will have new schedules.
But Ricky Walsh, the association’s 7th District vice president, claims port officials can’t alter the work conditions for the two remaining firefighters without a union agreement.
Officials have trained some maintenance employees to fill in if the union employees don’t show up for work, said Jim Kuntz, the port’s executive director.
The aircraft rescue crews are the first responders to an aircraft-related emergency. The Federal Aviation Administration requires that specially trained crews be on duty 15 minutes before and after a scheduled commercial flight.
The International Association of Firefighters, which represents the three workers, is accusing port officials of trying to break the union. The union and the port have been involved in at least two ongoing labor disputes dating back to 2004.
The problem began after port officials sought in 2004 the opinion of the state on whether the rescue crew was eligible for the Law Enforcement Officers’ and Fire Fighters’ Retirement System, which includes a generous pension and provides for a neutral third-party arbitration over wages, hours and work conditions.
The employees were enrolled in the LEOFF retirement system when the port took over the airport in the late 1980s, Wesley said. He believes the law says the employees should be enrolled in a different state retirement system, the Public Employees’ Retirement System.
The Department of Retirement Systems agreed with the port that the workers should be under the PERS system. The union appealed.
In a separate action also in 2004, the union filed an unfair labor practices complaint when one of four crew members was laid off that year. The state Public Employment Relations Commission ruled in favor of the union, but the port appealed.
Now the retirement issue is before an administrative law judge and the layoff case is being reviewed by the Walla Walla Superior Court.
Walsh claims the port should rehire the firefighter who was laid off almost three years ago.
But port officials argue that the Walla Walla Airport runs at a loss and the port can’t continue to subsidize it, Wesley said, noting two firefighters are all that’s needed to cover the average eight daily flights.
The workload will be reduced even further when Big Sky Airlines pulls out in late March, Kuntz said.