Firefighters continue their struggle to have the city of Auburn meet its obligations under the contract signed just this year.

It’s no secret. The relationship between the city of Auburn and the labor unions representing its employees has become increasingly acrimonious.

Passion are high, and we do not intend to be inflammatory. But it is important for residents to understand the position of the Local 797 Auburn Firefighters of the International Association of Firefighters.

For more than a decade, the union and the city have enjoyed a fairly amicable relationship. Labor-management issues were most often resolved through collaboration on the Quality Council. The Quality Council is comprised of management and union representatives, and all parties are afforded an equal voice to discuss important issues facing the department and the community it serves.

Through this collaboration, thousands of dollars in legal fees have been saved over the years by solving problems during meetings of the Quality Council and avoiding lawyers, arbitrators and the courts. Union members were empowered via the council to be involved in the direction of their departments as well as their careers.

Although not a perfect system, it presented a more productive choice than the expensive and protracted legal battles of the past.

So what has happened? As union officers, we scratch our heads in amazement as the Quality Council’s role has diminished, taking us back to the days of communicating through attorneys, mutual distrust and the fear and anxiety of waiting for the next shoe to drop.

At issue now is a cost of living adjustment in salary of 2 percent and minimum staffing levels.

The raise averages to about $14 per week per firefighter. The raise was due to union members on July 1, 2003. It was part of a collective bargaining agreement mutually agreed on and signed by city officials and ratified by L797 rank and file members in February 2003.

Just two months later, in April, the city implemented emergency cost saving measures designed to ensure the city closed the fiscal year in the black. For the Fire Department, this included removing the rescue truck from active service and dropping the minimum staffing levels of on duty firefighters from 14 to 12. It also meant that the city would deny the cost of living raise scheduled for July.

That was the beginning of the current harangue between the city and the firefighters’ union.

Firstly, the minimum staffing change was in direct violation of safety rules incorporated into the labor contract. The levels are reflective of the bare minimum number of firefighters needed to safely and effectively perform emergency operations, which include firefighter personal safety and rescue of people in harms way. These levels have been in place for 21 years with no increase in staffing. Even though, in the last 10 years, fire calls have increased by 127 percent and emergency medical calls have increased by 66 percent.

Subsequently, the city capitulated on this issue and the day after normal staffing levels and the rescue truck were returned to service, several people were rescued from the second floor of a structure fire with the very personnel and truck that the city attempted to remove from service to save money.

Secondly, the union is sensitive to the city’s claim of budget shortfalls. But the union also requires the factual data to substantiate such a claim and to support a forced reopening of contract language that would deny the due salary increase.

To date, we have not received that data and have not seen information that would allow our contract to be reopened. In fact, in reading the Auburn Highlights November 2003 issue, Mayor Norm Guay discusses poor economic conditions throughout the federal and state governments, but said “Auburn has remained stable.”

So what is it really?

The union has supported ideas that would generate substantial money through fire service activities. These activities could also abate chronic staffing shortfalls by increasing staffing levels without increasing property tax rates for Auburn residents. The city has not expressed any genuine interest in these ideas other than using them as morbid bargaining tools.

No matter the outcome, the Auburn Firefighters Union will continue to support the community we serve.

We will maintain our long tradition of generous donations to local interests through union fund raisers. We will work unpaid hours to help the city improve fire department service, and find creative ways to maintain a high level of service with increased emergency calls despite a lack of adequate staffing. And throughout this ordeal, we will maintain the moral high ground that the residents of Auburn expect and deserve.

Lt. Michael Minkowsky is vice president of Local 797, Auburn Firefighters.

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