By Craig Fox
Watertown Daily Times
WATERTOWN, N.Y. — A group of city firefighters will skip a ceremony for their colleagues this week, claiming that it’s hypocritical for the mayor to want to congratulate them after expressing such critical views of their union.
In an email, Battalion Chief Tucker Wiley wrote that the 16 members of the D platoon have decided not to attend the fire department’s annual awards ceremony on Thursday because of the stance that Mayor Joseph M. Butler Jr. has taken during the ongoing contract dispute with the firefighters’ union.
The battalion chief also mentioned a strongly worded opinion column that Mayor Butler wrote last week regarding the contract dispute, claiming it contained “inaccuracies and mistruths.”
“We will not watch him slap us in the face with one hand, and shake our hand with the other, all the while showing off a fake smile for a photo opportunity,” Mr. Wiley said. “Our guys deserve more. It is because of this hypocrisy that we cannot stand to watch.”
Mayor Butler could not be reached for comment.
In responding to the email, City Manager Sharon A. Addison said she respects the job that firefighters do and that the awards ceremony should not be a part of union negotiations. They are separate issues, she said.
“I think it’s petty,” Ms. Addison said.
The three-year contract dispute between the city and the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191 has spilled into this fall’s City Council race, with incumbents Stephen A. Jennings and Teresa R. Macaluso fighting for their political lives.
While his platoon won’t be in attendance on Thursday, Mr. Wiley stressed its members believe their colleagues deserve the recognition for “work well done.” They also want to congratulate them.
“We do apologize to our members who are receiving awards, that we will not be there, and that you will have to accept these awards in such a climate of disdain for you, and for our profession,” Mr. Wiley wrote.
Thursday’s awards ceremony will honor firefighters involved in delivering a baby, rescuing a woman from a burning home and other courageous acts by firefighters.
The battalion chief said the D platoon also expressed concern about going on Thursday after the ceremony became a campaign issue. Firefighters in his platoon are worried about accusations by Councilwoman Macaluso, who is running for re-election, that firefighters have bullied her during the campaign.
Councilwoman Macaluso, a vocal critic of the fire department, also accused the union of embarking on a smear campaign to get her defeated in the Nov. 9 election.
She made the remarks after members of the union criticized her for complaining when she and other council members weren’t notified the fire department awards ceremony was postponed two weeks ago — while firefighters were battling a blaze that sent three people to the hospital.
Members of the D platoon said they didn’t want to put their jobs on the line for one ceremony, so they are staying away from the event, Mr. Wiley said.
The accusation is hard to fend off so people already think “it to be true,” he said.
Councilwoman Macaluso, who cannot attend the ceremony because she’ll be with a friend’s mother getting cancer treatment, said those firefighters should be there to honor their colleagues.
“It’s what I would do,” she said.
In his email, Mr. Wiley also denounced Councilman Jennings for not being a friend of the fire department, saying the councilman is a constant critic.
“We don’t remember a positive word for the department since he was a candidate and he visited the station and told us what a believer he was in public safety,” Mr. Wiley said.
Councilman Jennings said he values the job firefighters do, but he believes the union is trying to defeat him.
“This is just election year politics,” the councilman said. “It’s another way they want to sway the election.”
In his opinion piece, the mayor spelled out many proposals that the union brought up during negotiations.
Mayor Butler angered union members by making specific information about the union’s proposals public.
In a news release, Daniel Daugherty, the firefighters’s union president, strongly disagreed with the mayor’s assertions.
“While it may serve as a firebrand for political posturing and gossip, the mayor’s op-ed has served only one purpose: to further perpetuate and advance the animosity between the city and the union,” Mr. Daugherty wrote.
The contract dispute’s main sticking point remains the issue involving the “minimum manning” stipulation that 15 firefighters must be on duty at all times. The city contends the stipulation causes the department to be overstaffed, while the union maintains that changing it would be unsafe.
The contract talks became increasingly bitter after eight captains were demoted to firefighters in July 2016.
Copyright 2017 Watertown Daily Times