Fire chiefs reject concession
Change would’ve reduced city’s payment by $20 into medical accounts for highest-paid workers
Spokane’s fire battalion chiefs, most of whom earned at least $40,000 in overtime in 2010, recently voted down a contract concession that would have cost them $20 a month.
Battalion Chief Dan Brown, president of the Spokane Association of Fire Officers, said his group worked with the city to save money but wasn’t interested in making medical concessions. He noted that the chiefs several years ago agreed to pay the highest medical premium among the city’s unions. Currently chiefs pay $400 or more a month for coverage – four times more than some other city workers, he said.
He said the fire officers offered to make concessions that would have saved $40,000 related to holiday pay – a move that would have helped the budget even more than what the city asked for.
“At the time they decided they didn’t want to move forward with that,” he said.
The chiefs’ unprecedented boost in overtime pay in 2010 pushed five of the city’s nine battalion chiefs to the top of the list of highest-paid city employees – making even more than Fire Chief Bobby Williams (whose pay fell by more than $1,000 in 2010). Two other battalion chiefs were among the top 10 highest paid city workers.
The large compensation packages largely resulted from an earlier contract that required the city to always have two battalion chiefs on duty. The city was forced to significantly boost overtime to meet the stipulation because of retirements and illness.
Late last year, the Spokane Firefighters Union and Spokane Police Guild agreed to concessions that include a pay freeze and an agreement to pay more for health insurance.
The battalion chiefs’ contract ties their pay to firefighters’, meaning their pay also will be frozen in 2011. However, their benefits are negotiated separately, and city administrators had hoped they would agree to the same benefit concessions that firefighters did even though chiefs weren’t threatened with layoffs.
“The biggest issue is an equity and fairness issue,” said Erin Jacobson, the city’s acting human resources director. “It’s not fair to not ask the same thing of their supervisors.”
Battalion chiefs are the on-scene commanders during emergencies and make critical decisions about when to send firefighters into burning buildings and pull them out.
In the fall, Brown stressed that the overtime situation was unique and not expected when the union successfully negotiated to have two chiefs on duty at all times. Even a consultant hired by city to find ways to cut the budget recommended in 2007 that the city should always have two battalion chiefs on duty for safety reasons.
Brown said the fire officers always will work closely with the city to prevent loss of fire jobs because of public safety concerns.
“That’s the priority on our agenda,” he said.
The fire chiefs’ decision contrasts with a vote by the police department’s Lieutenants and Captains Association, which opted to make the concessions made by the Spokane Police Guild.
Capt. Steve Braun, association president, said that after the guild agreed to concessions, the lieutenants and captains no longer were threatened with cuts that would have forced demotions. But Braun said members thought it was only fair to accept the same deal.
“We felt that we should be affected the same as guild members as far as our 2011 contract,” Braun said.
Braun said a majority of the group’s 13 members participated in the vote, which was unanimous.
Jacobson said that Brown declined to take a proposal for chiefs to pay a higher medical premium to a membership vote, but did allow a vote on a plan that would have lowered the amount the city pays into accounts that employees can use to pay health expenses by $20 a month. That vote failed.
Assistant Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said the battalion chiefs went back to full staffing in November after a new chief completed training, “nearly eliminating” the overtime problem.
Spokane Mayor Mary Verner said she wanted to wait to comment on the unions’ decisions until she had been briefed on the outcomes.
City Councilman Bob Apple criticized the battalion chiefs for not accepting the deal and said they are “overpaid.” “We have far too much management in the fire department right now,” he said.
City Councilman Richard Rush declined to comment on the battalion chiefs’ decision, but praised the police supervisors for agreeing to concessions.
“I’m just thankful they did the right thing,” he said.