New Agreements In Brookfield and Maywood Firefighters’ Chapters

Our Firefighter Chapters in Brookfield and Maywood recently brought home new agreements for their membership. In Brookfield, we were at odds over insurance, wages, fitness policy and outside employment.

Insurance, as in most collective bargaining negotiations was at issue as the employer sought to increase the employee contribution and modify coverage. A compromise was reached which kept employee contribution at the previous rate but allowed the provider to increase employee co-pays towards prescription drugs in June 2008.

Wages were also at issue for most of these negotiations. Ultimately, when the union compromised on the insurance issue, the village did so as well on the wages. The percentages increases agreed to are above CPI estimates.

The Village presented a proposal to incorporate medical evaluations into the new contract. The union committee decided to compromise on the fitness policy issue, where a new medical examination which follows the terms of NFPA 1582 Section 7.2 et seq. and to drop the prior fitness testing procedures. In the end , the village agreed to our position.

The village also sought to limit hours of work at outside employment, which the union rejected. Previous contracts provided that the Fire Chief had to be both notified by an employee of their outside employment along with an explanation of what the work was. At that point, the Chief could either allow or deny the request (but the denial could not be arbitrary or capricious) and explain his rational for the denial.

The union felt that this provided protection to the village and that no additional language was necessary, in the end the village agreed and dropped this proposal.

The contract was unanimously ratified by both the union membership at it’s July meeting and the Brookfield Village Board on September 10, 2007.

In Maywood, things began with more adversity. The Village Manager presented an initial proposal which was summarily rejected which included removal of manning, modified contribution to health insurance, and allowed for the use of Part-time firefighters.

The negotiating team abruptly left the meeting without setting further dates, and gave notice of its demand for mediation.

The Village’s attorney reached out to the director and indicated that there was plenty of room for compromise and that what was proposed was not his work product. Additional dates were agreed to continue bargaining. Shortly thereafter, Maywood’s Village Board placed the manager on administrative leave until his contract is up and replaced him with the village’s finance director.

From here, progress was made until a new agreement was reached and signed in July. The new contract includes longevity wage steps at 15 and 20 years of service but reduces the compensation for acting Lieutenant and clothing allowance. None of the other village proposed modifications to the new agreement were included in the final agreement either.
Special thanks to the committee, Gene Washington, Craig Bronaugh, Fred Saffold, Tony Morrone, Steve Owen, and Erik Steinmetz for their valuable assistance.