Blog note: This article
references a Placer County Grand Jury report on unfunded medical and pension
costs.
Frustrated by stalled talks at
the bargaining table, Roseville firefighters are waging an aggressive campaign
to drum up community support for a new labor contract.
Their union, Local 1592, has
launched a public relations blitz – including billboards, public rallies,
printed signs and social media messages – aimed at Roseville City Hall, which
has rejected the group’s latest contract proposal. The previous agreement
expired Dec. 31.
Negotiations, which began in
November, are at an impasse, union President Jamie Pepin said. A mediation
hearing is set for Tuesday, he said.
Meanwhile, Local 1592 is taking
its case to the public with a stark reminder of the role of firefighters in the
community. Outside the Westfield Galleria at Roseville, where a devastating
arson fire in 2010 caused $55 million in damages and shut down portions of the
mall for months, an electronic billboard flashes a scene of firefighters
attacking a wall of flames with water.
The message asks, “Is the
safety of our community worth 50 cents an hour?” and urges viewers to call City
Hall in support of firefighters.
The amount refers to how much
the union’s proposal would cost the city per hour worked by each firefighter
during the two-year term of the deal, Pepin said. He declined to give specifics
about the proposal, citing rules that forbid disclosure by either party during
labor negotiations.
Although the union is seeking
“very modest” cost-of-living raises and health care allowances, the main issue
is a plan by city officials to cut salaries, medical benefits and pensions for
new employees, Pepin said. He said the proposal would make it hard for the Fire
Department to recruit and retain quality candidates and would hurt
rank-and-file morale.
“We think that will have a
devastating effect on the department,” he said.
At City Hall, a spokesman said
City Manager Ray Kerridge would not comment on contract issues. Phone calls to
Mayor Carol Garcia were not returned.
According to written
information from city officials, Roseville fire engineers are paid 9.5 percent
above the regional median in total compensation, while firefighter paramedics
earn 1.76 percent above the median, according to a joint study by local fire
agencies.
A study also found that new
Roseville firefighter/paramedics earn $65,187 in annual base pay, compared with
$64,428 in Folsom, $59,784 for the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District and
$51,108 for the South Placer Fire District.
Roseville officials declined to
discuss specifics of the proposed firefighters’ contract, citing rules against
disclosure, but said the city’s offer reflects efforts to reduce unfunded
medical and pension costs highlighted in a Placer County grand jury report.
“We have been able to reduce
long-term liabilities with our other bargaining groups during previous
negotiations,” officials said in a written statement. “The city is not asking
the firefighters union to accept changes different from those groups.”
Pepin said the union has made
concessions during the last eight years, as Roseville and other local
governments struggled during the recession. Since then, he said, city managers
have received cost-of-living raises and increased health care allowances. With
the city’s financial picture improved, firefighters “are tired of concessions,”
he said.
“We have been promised that
someday this would end, and we think now that that promise was never intended
to be kept,” Pepin said. “If we agree to cuts now, that will ensure more cuts
in the future and it’s never going to end. So we’re finally standing up and
saying ‘No more.’”
June
19, 2015
The
Sacramento Bee
By Robert D.
Dávila
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