It has been assumed by members of the public and stated by city politicians that the City of Lockport Firefighters do not understand and/or care about the City’s fiscal distress. What the politicians fail to say and the public doesn’t know is that in the course of contract negotiations the Firefighters Union has met almost all City demands and made a number of concessions. On April 9, 2013 at a Meeting with the City’s hired negotiator, Sam Iraci, the broad framework of a deal had been agreed to. The Union agreed to a change in schedule to three platoons working 24 hour shifts. This was a City proposal and would have drastically reduced overtime as well as allowed the City to save on having to fill three vacant firefighter positions. In addition, at the City’s request the Union agreed to allow healthcare changes and for the City to become self-insured. The City’s negotiator felt this change City wide could save up to a million dollars a year. It should be noted that the Police Union agreed to this change but with the members receiving half of the savings. In addition a retirement incentive was agreed to. This incentive was structured in such a way that it would be cost neutral for the City, maintain department staffing levels and further cut overtime. This exact incentive was eventually offered to the Police Union in their contract. The City also asked for a residency clause which the Union agreed to. In addition the Union agreed to waive contract language regarding pension contributions so that Tier 6 employees would pay towards their pensions as opposed to the City paying their portion. At the end of the meeting both sides agreed to go to their respective constituents. The Fire Union membership overwhelming agreed to continue in that direction and instructed the negotiating team to return to the table. The Council on the other hand decided not to act. Mr. Iraci stated that the Council had changed their minds on what they wanted but had given him no further instructions and the City had decided to terminate negotiations. The next meeting did not occur for over three months. At that time the City in effect restarted negotiations. Though a number of meetings occurred, little headway was made. Mayor Tucker and various council members have stated that the Union was offered a stand-alone retirement incentive to avoid layoffs in 2013, this is simply untrue. No stand-alone offers were ever made and no retirement incentive was ever discussed except in the context of a complete collectively bargained agreement. After the final negotiating session on January 16 2014, the Fire Union sent contract proposals directly to the Council members. These proposals included the above mentioned changes as well as asking for no raises and giving up health reimbursement account money for two years. The City never responded to these offers. After the meeting with Mayor Tucker on January 16th there have been no additional meetings. The new administration has refused the Union’s offers to negotiate.
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 19:27:53 +0000