City, fire union reject fact-finding report [Hamilton JournalNews, Ohio]

May 09--HAMILTON -- The fate of a collective bargaining agreement between the city and the union representing its firefighters will remain in limbo for about a month more.

Hamilton City Council voted unanimously Wednesday evening to reject a report making recommendations on a variety of issues in the agreement. Members of the firefighter's union also voted to reject the report.

The two parties initially were unable to agree on 19 articles in the agreement, which would cover all firefighters in the city with the exception of the chief. As a result, a fact-finding hearing was held Feb. 26, Feb. 27 and March 15 before a State Employment Relations Board -- or SERB -- fact finder, according to Letitia Block, the city's assistant law director.

Both the union and the city had until Thursday to accept or reject the report, Block said. With the report rejected, the matter will now head to conciliation, which is final and binding arbitration in the matter, she said.

"Both of the parties will submit what they consider to be their best offer, their final position on all of the issues," Block said. "Then the conciliator will decide which side wins."

Councilman Robert Brown said that would take place "probably some time in June."

Council members declined comment on their vote, saying it constituted part of the continued negotiation.

A fact finder, who was appointed by SERB last November, submitted to both parties on May 2 a 30-page fact-finding report.

Eric Abney, president of Hamilton's fire union, said based on how the document was written, he was not surprised that council members rejected the report.

"The fact finders report is supposed to clarify contract language where two sides can come to an agreement," Abney said. "In this particular fact finder's report, the way the fact finder wrote the report left more questions on certain articles than answers."

One of the reports recommendations sides with the city's proposal of requiring only one certified EMT-Paramedic instead of two on a medic unit and the city's proposal to remove the entire section requiring minimum manning by requiring a minimum number of apparatus.

"All employers, whether private or public sector, have the inherent right to determine how much production or work they desire to have their employees produce," reads the report. "In the public sector, the taxpayers, through their elected officials, ultimately retain the right to determine what their desired level of service is."

Abney said the union's biggest concern about the report and its wording revolved around language that could allow the city to reduce the amount of fire houses and staffing.

"We've always had two ALS (advanced life support) paramedic-certified medics on squad and now the city will have the opportunity, if they want to, to put only one paramedic on the squad and that's a concern for us," Abney said. "The levy that the citizens passed, that money that's being collected, says that we'll have two paramedics on each squad.

No firefighter safety is at issue a result of the recommendation, according to the report.

"Rather what is at issue is the level of medic service that the city will provide," reads the report. "Assuming the fire chief does, in fact, staff medic units with two paramedics as often as possible, this should still provide adequate service while allowing the city to actually increase the number of medic units at certain times during the week."

The 30-page report also found that Hamilton's proposal for a wage freeze for 2013, 2014 and 2015 was reasonable, but also found it reasonable that employees still progressing through the wage steps may continue this progression through the years of the agreement.

"To freeze these affected employees from progressing through the steps unfairly creates savings for the city at the expense of just some of the members of the bargaining unit," reads the report.

The fact finder sided with the union when it came to keeping the work week at 48 hours, instead of 52, as the city had requested. Adding hours to firefighters' workweek without appropriate compensation amounted to "mandatory unpaid work," according to the report.

The report did, however, agree with the city that 40-hour-a-week employees may work four 10-hour days with approval of the fire chief.

It also addressed clothing allowances, which it recommended be reduced to $350 for 2013 and for 2014, then returned to $700 for 2015, providing short-term relief to the city despite the union's position that working conditions justify for continuance of the allowance.

"Fairness suggests that a sharing of this cost in the short term in reasonable, but a total elimination of the allowance is not," reads the fact-finding report.

The report agreed with the union when it came to leaving in place educational assistance programs and holiday provisions, leaving in place double-time pay for holidays, despite the city's arguing that premium pay for the holiday was necessary to achieve the overall cost reductions it is seeking in the fire department.

"The Union argued that unlike many other City employees, this bargaining unit is regularly scheduled to work on holidays," reads the fact-finding report. "And unlike other City employees, when members of this bargaining unit work a holiday their tour incorporates most of the day, not just an 8-hour shift. The Union argued that the current contract provides fair compensation in return for this."

The report also did not find compelling evidence to support the city's proposal for a two-tier wage system, where employees hired after Jan. 1 would make 90 percent of current scale and employees hired prior to Jan. 1 would find longevity payments suspended for the duration of the agreement.

"Significant cost savings will not be experienced by the City during the life of this agreement, as it is unlikely that there would be a large exodus of bargaining unit employees during this time," reads the report.

For medical insurance, the fact finder recommends the city's proposal for changes, including removing the requirement that the plan provided by the city be recommended by the health/benefits subcommittee. The report also recommends removing expired language that the plan provided by the city be a managed care, point of service plan and be package with vision and dental coverage.

The fact-finding report also recommends the city's proposal that compensatory leave requests will only be subject to the shift commander's approval and to available slots, as well as the city's proposal that the number of persons permitted to be off on any one date should be changed from seven employees to four employees for all paid leave and time off.

"You have seven slots available for someone to take on vacation and you also have two additional slots for compensatory time, you already right there already have nine people who can be off per shift on any given day, which makes the necessity for overtime higher," Block said. "That's also another significant issue as it relates to costs in the fire department."

The report also made recommendations concerning overtime, trading of tours and attendance incentives.

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