FIREFIGHTERS DIVISION UPDATE

Spring/Summer 2009

Through all of this, the Local has remained resolute and steadfast that the following issues must be addressed in a new contract.

      --- The inequity between what our members at Argonne and the surrounding areas must be addressed. The top base salary in the neighboring areas at the lowest rate is approximately $ 64,000 annually, our senior member’s total compensation annually is about $53,000.
     --- In that the laboratory does not fall under municipal jurisdiction, Argonne is funded through Federal monies but is a private company, many of the benefits our other firefighters have through state statutes and federal laws do not apply and must be bargained. We have sought to incorporate some of those benefits into this contract with much resistance.

As of this update being posted, the Laboratory has terminated the employment of one of our most vocal supporters for violation of the internet policy along with other allegations. In spite of these calculated attacks against our members, the chapter remains strongly in support of our efforts to help them attain a fair and reasonable contract. We are scheduled to begin mediation to achieve that goal in June

Calumet Park Firefighters

In November of last year, management requested that one of our senior members be evaluated citing issues with the member’s fitness for duty. The member complied and has been on leave since, our member claims that he has been cleared for duty, while the employer’s counsel has indicated that the employer does not want him back to work. We are seeking additional information to maintain our member’s rights as our contract calls for “just cause” standard for discipline up to termination of employment.

New Lenox Firefighters

We are still in negotiation for a first contract with this employer who contracted out our members’ work shortly after we organized them. A hearing has been held before the ILRB and we await a decision from that agency. The employer has indicated that they are open to reaching a settlement agreement which we are pursuing. 

 Wilmette Firefighters

Management has taken a harsh stance against our Chief Steward in February and suspended him in excess of 60 hours for the following alleged transgressions:

     --- In August of last year, the employer alleges that our Chief Steward did not follow reporting guidelines and abused the sick leave policy. This issue was raised after long after he was questioned and compensated for his absence shortly after the date he had called in.
    --- He worked 72 consecutive hours in December on a swap day and a day of overtime in violation of department policy. This charge was upheld by management in spite of the fact that they have to approve swap time and superior officers had full knowledge of this schedule. When this issue was raised with the chief, he stated that it is the employee’s responsibility to know and follow the rules.
     --- After accepting an overtime assignment for short shift, He traded time with another member so he could be present for a repair to gas lines at his rental property.  Each time trade requires authorization which he sought and verbally obtained. He was charged with dishonesty, insubordination, and violation of departmental policies regarding this matter.

The local took steps to seek relief through both the contract by grieving the discipline levied and filing charges at the Illinois Labor Relations Board. Through negotiations with the Village Management, we are confident we can reach an acceptable compromise regarding these matters.

Westchester Firefighters

Our chief steward filed grievances on the manner which the family deductable was being calculated. Certain members had exceeded the amount which had been communicated was the maximum but were told that the figure was not an aggregate for the entire family, in direct conflict of what had been explained at an insurance meeting. At the third step of the grievance procedure the Village Manager agreed with us and is underwriting the difference to our affected employees.

We are still at odds over vacation scheduling where our grievance is at the arbitrations step of the procedure. In the most recent negotiations the process was modified to our members benefit. When the fire management realized the impact of the changes, they refused to follow the new procedures, which lead to our filing grievances to seek a remedy. We are confident we can prevail, and are continuing discussion with the new village administration to reach a remedy.

Controversy Regarding Promotions

 Various issues affect many of us in the service, and fortunately we work in a state where many of the issues which those who preceded us faced conflict over have been resolved with legislation. One such issue is that of promotions, with the passage and implementation of The Fire Department Promotions Act many of the disputes regarding both the process of both testing and actual promotions were to be both standardized and resolved. We are yet experiencing disagreements in many of our departments including Broadview, Burbank and Maywood. Currently the issue of whether a vacancy actually exists is being disputed in Broadview and Maywood and we are in discussion with our Burbank members as to whether the process laid out by the City is consistent and compliant with our contract and the act. 

In Broadview, a Lieutenant retired for personal reasons which in our view left a vacancy. The village chose to put the Deputy Chief back on shift after this rank had been a daily position. By putting the deputy on days, they denied promotion to one of our members who was next on the promotional eligibility list.

In Maywood, a Lieutenant was promoted in April of 2008 to a new daily position; this rank falls within the bargaining unit and a daily spot had never been raised with the union prior to its implementation. The union made a timely demand to bargain the applicable terms of this new position, and were told that the village seeks to create a higher rank of Administrative Officer (what we believe a Deputy Chief rank). However, they only decided to do so last month approximately eleven months afterward.

In Burbank, the previous promotions lists to Engineer and Lieutenant were both exhausted and the employer had not authorized filing of vacancies (their right by statute). Management and the union had agreed upon certain modifications to the testing procedures last year prior to initiating another testing process. Management gave notice that they want to add elements which were neither agreed to nor consistent with the Act or our contract modifications. We have met and await their reply to the issues we have raised.

Need for New Stewards

Many of our worksites, we have lost valuable leadership through the retirement. In some new members have taken on the valuable role of steward. Our structure is dependant upon having a well organized steward structure in place to assist us to represent our membership. Your Local Union Representative cannot be in each of our chapters at all times. Accordingly we are seeking new members to fill these invaluable roles.

To help those who do step into those roles we will be holding steward trainings at various locations to offer insights and information for our new stewards to succeed.