While we hear this all over the Country, it appears that it may appear to be happening more often than we would think. From Everett, Washington to Michigan, here is Michigan’s story
“Fantastic news for the residents of Harper Woods and our four laid off members! The arbitrator’s ruling has come down and has stated that our four laid members are ordered back to work after the City “unequivocally” violated our contract.
We look forward to providing a higher quality of service to the residents of Harper Woods again and to negotiating a completely concessionary, long term contract with the City.” the FaceBook says.
Previous comment:
“The wait is on…arbitrator has all the info needed. We shall know something in the next 30 days whether or not the 4 laid off firefighter/paramedics will be back to work.
Please say your prayers, our skeleton crew, as many have put it, are tiring quickly of working long hours without backup.
God bless and thank you all for your support through this incredibly trying time.”
Original Story published in the newspaper:
Harper Woods firefighter staffing issues threatens pact with Grosse Pointe
- By Candice Williams
- The Detroit News
Harper Woods— A staffing shortage in the Harper Woods Fire Department is leading its mutual-aid partners in the Grosse Pointes to think about dropping the city from the pact.
On Saturday, the Harper Woods Fire Department had no firefighters on duty, prompting Grosse Pointe Woods to bring in two of its own firefighters on overtime in case of emergency.
“Our concern is that this is going to become a trend, and there has to be some discussion on this topic,” said Al Fincham, Grosse Pointe Woods city administrator, Wednesday.
It was the second time Harper Woods had no firefighters on duty this year, Fincham said. It also happened March 24, after Harper Woods laid off four firefighters.
The mutual-aid committee, which includes public safety officials from the five Grosse Pointes and Harper Woods, will schedule a meeting for next week to discuss Harper Wood’s staffing. The city could lose its participation in the mutual aid pact, which was established in 1956 and renewed in 1999, Fincham said.
“That’s a possibility,” he said. “I don’t know what the recommendation will be from the committee. It’s certainly a concern. If they have no one on duty, we are their first responder. By default, we become their fire department.”
Harper Woods laid off the firefighters in March to ease a looming $1.6 million deficit, reducing its staff to eight full-timers. Twelve of the city’s 25 police officers are also cross-trained to fight fires, said acting City Manager Randolph Skotarczyk.
Despite the layoffs, the city is able to fulfill its mutual-aid duties, Skotarczyk said. “We’ve never failed to give aid,” he said.
Skotarczyk said he recognizes the Pointes’ concern. The city is in negotiations with its firefighters union to replace a contract that expired Dec. 31. “I’m not happy about our staffing levels,” he said. “It’s driven by financial stress the city is under right now.”
Dave Micallef, president of Local 1188 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, expects the mutual-aid pact to end soon.
“I won’t be surprised if the Grosse Pointes end up removing us,” Micallef said. “It’s not mutual aid anymore, it’s abuse.”
Harper Woods resident Susan Uhl said the city’s thin fire staffing scares her. She said two houses on her street were heavily damaged by fires in March.
“I’m very concerned,” she said. “Usually we would have had adequate response. We had to wait for Grosse Pointe to show up.”
(313) 222-2311
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120809/METRO01/208090364#ixzz24LUVLm6M
After the story was posted the firefighters & medics posted this:
“A few additional things we’d like people to know:
Harper Woods Firefighter-Paramedics have seen:
– 39% staffing reduction in the last 10 years.
– 57% budget reduction in the last 10 years.
– 30% increase in fire and ems runs the last 10 years.
We recognize the City’s financial trouble, and have stepped up with completely concessionary contract offers that would reduce the average firefighter-paramedic’s pay by 21% and trim an additional 18% off our budget. We can not make the City accept these concessions, they must do it on their own. It is important our costs be in line to provide top quality fire/EMS services to the residents the way they have voted they want them: separate from police services (1994 & 2011).
The City Council and Mayor have consistently said that combining Harper Woods Fire/EMS Dept and Police Dept would put more cops on the street and more firefighters ready to fight fire. Its clear that that is not true in light of HW police attempting to double up as firefighters since our lay offs in March, and that still not being enough, as Grosse Pointe Woods is supplementing our obsolete staffing and charging Harper Woods for the overtime.”
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012208090364
Source: Harper Woods Fire and EMS FaceBook Page
Check out similar issues as listed on the Everett (WA) Firefighters page. They have been experiencing brown-outs and out of service Aid and Engines since 2010. This is unacceptable, especially as people deman EMS respond to non-emergency to life-saving calls quickly.
We will touch on this subject as this is another topic altogether.
(c) 2012 The NW Fire Blog
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