Firefighters To Nutter: Honor Arbitration Award

BY BILL GAULT, President, IAFF Local  22/ Mayor Michael Nutter didn’t attend Philadelphia’s 2012 Labor Day Parade. That’s not surprising. When it comes to dealing fairly with labor’s many legitimate issues, Nutter has been absent since the outset of his administration.

Fire Fighters’ & Paramedics’ Local 22 and the Nutter Administration started the bargaining process for a new contract nearly four years ago, in December 2008. Since then, we have conducted countless days of arbitration hearings and generated thousands upon thousands of pages of evidence regarding the City’s finances. We have witnessed not one, but two arbitration awards and one costly and unnecessary appeal by the City. In both awards to this union, a neutral arbitrator stated unequivocally the award was fair and affordable.

During the past four years, the Nutter Administration has closed fire companies and implemented rolling brownouts, saving the City at least $15 million per year. Yet despite these savings, firefighters and paramedics have worked for four years without a raise, risking our lives every day to protect the citizens of Philadelphia and their property.

We have unfortunately been reminded of the grave risks faced by firefighters and paramedics when we mourned the loss of Lt. Robert Neary and Firefighter Daniel Sweeney earlier this year. Throughout the past four years, Philadelphia’s firefighters and paramedics have accepted increased risks resulting from staffing cuts, station closings and brownouts, as well as a declining standard of living due to four years without a raise. Regardless, we have continued to come to work every day and willingly lay our lives on the line in defense of the city’s residents. In return, all we ask is for a fair shake.

We’re still waiting. Forty years ago, Pennsylvania’s Constitution was amended in order to give us that fair shake by providing final and binding contract arbitration for firefighters and police officers under Act 111. Because our work is so important to society, we cannot strike to resolve labor disputes or contract negotiations. Instead, we are given the opportunity to turn our issues over to an impartial third party for final and binding resolution. Then we live with the results, like them or not, until the next round of bargaining. There are no strikes, no interruptions to service, no threats to citizens’ safety. The process works.

The Nutter Administration, however, has deprived us of the final and binding arbitration promised to us by law by pursuing an appeal of our most recent contract award.

The latest round in that legal fight was the arbitration panel’s re-issuance of our four-year contract award just a few weeks ago. The terms of the new award are fair. Both sides made gains. The Nutter Administration won pension and benefit reforms, secured a pay freeze for the first time in 20 years, and maintained a residency requirement for firefighters and paramedics that will keep our members and their tax dollars in the City. The firefighters won reasonable wage increases and smaller safety and health protections. The economics of the award were virtually identical to a similar award for the City’s police officers that the Nutter Administration chose not to appeal.

As for costs, by the City’s own calculations, the award costs about $16 million per year (out of a $4 billion overall annual budget), and comes at a time when the City has already reduced its Fire Dept. costs by almost $15 million per year through service cuts. So the financial impact of the award is minimal, both sides made gains, and the City chose not to appeal an identical award for police officers. There is no logical reason for the Nutter administration to appeal the award and continue to deprive firefighters and paramedics of their right to final and binding arbitration.

Shortly after the award was issued, I wrote Mayor Nutter and asked that he implement the award. I proposed that we focus on the future instead of squabbling over the past. I also invited the Mayor to stand with me and thousands of firefighters from across North America for the recently-completed IAFF International Convention. Nutter’s presence would have sent a message to these brave men and women that their sacrifices were recognized and appreciated. Regrettably, the Mayor chose not to respond at all to our invitation.

As a result of its indifference to our issues, the Nutter Administration has given Philadelphia’s firefighters and paramedics no other choice but to take drastic action, which is why we recently filed a lawsuit in the Philadelphia Co. Court of Common Pleas to compel the City to implement our contract award. We are tired of the appeals, tired of the litigation, tired of the nonsense – and we feel like we have no other choice. Act 111 is supposed to provide final and binding arbitration. Our members deserve this fair contract, given the sacrifices that they make to keep citizens safe. And while our city’s firefighters and paramedics would much rather work together with the Nutter administration, the Mayor has left us no other option but to take him to court. That’s a shame.

On behalf of 4,000 IAFF Local 22 members and their families, and in solidarity with many elected officials who recognize and appreciate the sacrifices made by police officers, firefighters and paramedics, I am once again calling upon the Nutter Administration to do the right thing and comply with the final and binding arbitration award. Enough is enough. It’s time to put the in-fighting behind us and work together to keep Philadelphia safe.

As for the citizens of our great city, your firefighters and paramedics thank you for your continued support. We pledge to continue to risk our lives to protect your families and your homes. We ask simply that you contact Mayor Nutter and demand he do right by the city’s firefighters and paramedics.

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