I have before me, the actual ACT 111 Award document. This details the firefighter's contract as awarded in arbitration signed by arbitrator Thomas W. Jennings on December 2, 2011 between Fire Fighters Local Union No. 1400 and the City of Chester.
It confirms that base wage of the bargaining unit shall be increased as stated in my earlier post, with appropriate adjustments to ranking positions within the bargaining unit.
Based on what's been reported in the Daily Times and Chester Spirit, this 2011 arbitration award is exactly what the fire fighters received. I don't see where much, if any, negotiation between the new administration and the fire fighter union resulted in any changes since 2011.
Also attached to the package is salary information.
2006 fire fighter base pay was $42,634.87. Captains earn 10% more than base. Battalion Chiefs earn 20% more than base. That confirms that they are union covered employees. Apprentice 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year earn 30%, 20% and 10% less than base pay respectively.
At the end of the contract in 2016, base pay will be $59,555.48.
Based on these numbers, the base salary for fire fighters in 2006 (the contract they've been working from for the past 5 years) is $20.49 and for a Battalion Chief $24.59.
You may have read that several replies to the earlier post on this topic were correct when they claimed that fire fighters earn about $21 an hour. No one knew where the $28.83 came from that I used in my example. Well, it came from the Chester Spirit if you really want to know.
Ok, I think we're straight now on salary, and with a little math, you can figure what the city owes the fire fighters in retro pay.
However, there is one clause in the contract that confuses me.
Under no circumstance shall the City unnecessarily endanger the health or safety of a bargaining unit member by requiring the bargaining unit member to be subjected to a managerial or physical condition that could have been anticipated and/or prevented by the City by the expenditure of moneys or other City action.
I'm not a legal beaver, but that sounds like a potentially expensive clause with a lot of grey matter.
This mayor has allowed the fire fighters and the police the opportunity to move out of the city only after two years on the job. WOW unbelievable. This is not the change I voted for. Who else thinks this is a mess?
ReplyDeleteI think it was 3 years in the old contract. Not a big change.
DeleteI dont think they were ever allowed to move out of the city or not live in the city.
DeletePrior to 1989 the city police took the residency matter to the Supreme Court and won. It was ruled unconstitutional to tell someone where to live. Since that time deals have been made to restrict workers residency and such.
Deleteits above your pay grade, leave it be. ans your facts are wrong once again. Base pay is 20.11.. add 10% for Captains and 20% to the base for BC. And the settlement is 3 years living within city.. not 2. So why didn't u make a big deal out of the FOP contract which is almost word for word ( same lawyer for both unions)... Infact PD got better raises, and 8 personal days to the firefighters 6.....funny how u pick and chose who u wanna start shit with.
ReplyDeleteAgain, and again, and again...
DeleteWhen I pick up a paper that says the fire fighters are getting a 35% raise through 2015, I asked if it was correct.
Sorry for asking questions.
If I'm wrong than every piece of paper in front of me is wrong. Is that what you want the public to have, wrong information? Or is no information the goal.
Personally, I don't care about your contract. I'm happy you have one. I'm more concerned how the city plans to pay for it.
However, there is one clause in the contract that confuses me.
ReplyDeleteUnder no circumstance shall the City unnecessarily endanger the health or safety of a bargaining unit member by requiring the bargaining unit member to be subjected to a managerial or physical condition that could have been anticipated and/or prevented by the City by the expenditure of moneys or other City action.
I'm not a legal beaver, but that sounds like a potentially expensive clause with a lot of gray matter.
Not necessarily. You have NO idea of some of the stuff that slips past in a safety aspect. Trucks that need repairs or are not street legal sometimes. This just adds a measure of responsibility on the city to properly and in timely fashion maintain safe equipment. And what you say you have is the Act 111 ruling not the signed contract which differs on residency and a few other things.
There is a standard called NFPA that is used to keep firefighters safe as possible which covers everything from trucks and pumps right down to gloves and boots.
If safety in the workplace is a "grey" area to you then you obviously have been desk bound your whole working life.
There is a certain assumed risk that people in public safety expect but one of which should NEVER be the equipment you rely on to do the job.
Not too many desks are in industrial processing plants where safety is paramount. I understand the need for safety. That statement seems more reactive than proactive. I would expect that both sides would hammer out a safety program rather than a blank check which appears you'll have to fight for to get from the city if safety issues come up.
DeleteYou expect them to hammer out a safety program when they had to go to a third party for a contract????
DeleteLost in the sauce you are.
I don't expect anything from anyone. I just know that that clause is an open ended law suit waiting to happen and will do little or nothing to get you the safety stuff you want and need.
DeleteYes you stated in your previous post and I quote:"I would expect that both sides would hammer out a safety program rather than a blank check which appears you'll have to fight for to get from the city if safety issues come up."
DeleteEnd quote. Don't you read your own words Rootsie???
I'm missing your point.
DeleteThat last bit that concerns you may in fact keep another WADE Dump from occurring. The CITY and County knew about that refuse place and by its lack of curing the issue , probably besides ineptness and ignorance,MONEY was a factor I'm sure.
ReplyDeletePeople are still dying from that fire ya know. How about that for your "Man of the Year"...
I'm sure you mean that this clause may have protected fire fighters from harm if they had the proper equipment fighting the Wade Dump fire.
DeleteIt appears that this clause comes into affect after issues with safety are uncovered. For example, people got harmed at Wade Dump, the fire fighters would appeal for toxic waste fire protection, the city decides to buy it or not, it goes to court, someone wins or loses.
There's got to be a better way.
Sadly there hasn't been. 20 years now without proper diesel exhaust ventilation in stations. City knows about it, has a broken system hanging from rafters. Do some research on the effects of diesel exhaust on workers, that might be interesting. Lotsa cancer there. And as for the Wade site fire, I mean the city neglected to act properly more than likely due to not wanting to spend their money to have him cease waste dumping but that is all a thing of the past. Safety clause is for the future. If the did things safely, properly and cooperatively then there would be NO need for said clause no? Trust no one to your safety pal, if a penny can be pinched it will be at someone's (city) benefit and not a worker. Don't be so naive. Especially if you indeed worked in any industrial environment.
DeleteSo why not bargain for a proper exhaust system like you bargain for staffing a engine?
DeleteBargain for something like a state of the art exhaust system they already KNOW will help keep their employees safer??? You sound like a politician now. That saddens me , just when I thought you were gaining credibility.
DeleteThey know you need it but you don't have it. How you going to get it?
DeleteThere is grant money out there for the exhaust system. The company will even write the grant for you to get the system( which they have done). However when we have individuals in the ranks that know more then the grant writer and try to tack on more things the grant gets shot down.
DeleteThe thought of big, fat, and lazy firemen making the same amount of money and enjoying the same contract benefits as police officers is RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!. Police should have more than firefighters, oh yeah, the firemen think that getting shot at by wanna be gangbangers at 3:00 am is the same as sleeping in the firehouse bunkroom all night. You fireman have your contract so be happy and move on, but those who pay taxes in this city have every right to question ANY cost to this city, you chose to be a public servant and unfortunately there will always be questions concerning your cost.
ReplyDeleteAnother jealous cop, big fat firemen... that's nice...all you cops are in such great shape... just don't ask them to get out of the car for anything. funny the only time a crime gets solved or actual police work is when the real police are in town... the state police. you local cops are a fucking joke..
DeleteThats if you can even get one to show up first.
DeleteStill don't want to talk about your "Man of the Year." Do ya Roots!
ReplyDeleteIt was a great tribute to a successful business man.
DeleteIf our city, state and environmental officials had done their job, they would have shut down that site long before any fire erupted, right? But they didn't. So does that mean Wade had more influence and power than the mayor, governor, and US agency official?
You don't like Wade because people died as a result of a fire at a plant he owned. I get that. However, the article was about the man who purchased a rubber recycling plant with his own money and made millions on the tons of rubber he sold - not on drums at $1.50 each. If you don't want to be reminded of that, fine. But it happened and I documented it just like the fire happened which has also been well documented.
Sometimes I think people believe that Wade came up with the idea of allowing waste to pile up on his site for 3 years in the open for everyone to see in order to purposely harm citizens and kill fireman while everyone else looked the other way.
Maybe he did. But I don't think so.
Do we really need to discuss Melvin Wade here? Haven't y'all had enough of him?
Hey Rootsie, the man was responsible for the deaths of many and sickening of untold amounts of people. He also effectively turned that plot of land into a wasteland by his admitted and unfettered dumping of chemicals he knew he had no right doing. The river had been fouled for many years afterwards. C'mon man admit ya made an error in judgement. It's ok. You're human act like it.
DeleteOh. I read something different about the extent of pollution on Wade's land and water from the EPA cleanup reports.
DeleteYou really think the 3 years of dumping on his 5 acres compares to the dumping the other companies were doing on the land from PPL Park to the Peco building for dozens of years before he even got there? If you want to compare polluters, Wade was a small player on the Chester riverfront. There's plenty of proof of that fact.
If he had no right to do it, why wasn't he stopped? He wasn't doing it in secret. Everyone knew he was doing it. But they continued to let it keep coming in.
Why did he only do one year of jail time? Because he didn't break any environmental laws. He failed to prevent a catastrophe. Thankfully, due to the tragedy, laws were created to prohibit something like that from happening again.
There's a lot of errors of judgement to throw around. In your mind, my error is the greatest of them all. I'll accept that.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_Dump#section_2
Deletehttp://inquirer.philly.com/specials/2000/fire/stories/fire30.asp
Deletehttp://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/npl/PAD980539407.htm
DeleteSorry, but I can't let this blog post on fire fighter contract issues turn into a Wade discussion. I'll create another post on Wade only.
DeleteHowever, this is a most interesting link for several reasons.
1. It was 1981 before the EPA started removing waste from the site, 3 years after the fire.
2. 15,000 gallons of liquid waste was removed (273 55-gallon drums). This is stuff that Wade never dumped.
3. Of course everything on the property was considered contaminated so the tonnage of solid waste would be large.
4. The site was cleaned in 1987, 9 years after the fire.
It seems the government didn't care while it was going on and in no rush to clean it up after it happened.
In reality, the government had no laws and no money to clean this up. And Wade was allowed to pile this stuff up unchecked. It was all his fault.
You ever give any thought to what that site would be like if there was no fire?
Do you have any information on the ground clean up fiasco for PPL Park? Just asking. I'm stopping this discussion here. We can pick it up later on another blog post that relates to environmental pollution in Chester.
On PPL cleanup from City web page:
Deletehttp://www.chestercity.com/index.php/about-chester/chester-developments/ppl-park-stadium/ppl-park-site-cleanup
WOW!!!! what is really going on here???? I will admit thee are alot of fat firefighters...LOL....I agree that oth firefighters and police have separate jobs....You got the contract now when you going to stop the complaining. It is only fair as a taxpayer that we know whats really going on and how the City going to be paying this BIG bill.....
ReplyDeleteSometimes you just have to let people vent. We don't have many outlets that allow it.
DeleteTru dat Rootmandu!
DeleteWhat the hell does the weight of a firefighter gotta do with anything u idiot... if it was a 250lbs ff or a 90lbs ff showing up to save my ass.... I wouldn't give a shit... and by the way.. all the fat cops get k9 dogs anyway!lol. couldnt agree more about the state police.... they are here to do a job and they do it well.
DeleteJust like a cop to call the firemen big fat and lazy. I'll put the weight of the firemen against the weights of the cops any day. Talk about out of shape, ever listen to yourselves on a foot chase? Out of breath in less than a block. Yeah we have a bunkroom...jealous? Hard to park a firetruck somewhere to take a nap like you guys do with your cars. You suggest we drive around the city all night looking for fires and accidents? I'm sure the taxpayers would love a 4 dollar a gallon diesel fuel bill on trucks that get 5 or 6 miles to the gallon. Hopefully we are close by when you guys wreck your cars since you drive 60 or 70 miles an hour to almost every call you get. Maybe we will start driving like idiots to the police calls and scream on the radios and hype up all your calls like you do ours.
DeleteDon't hate because you scored too low on the civil service test to be a firefighter. At least you managed to get the cop job. And by the way, Everybody knows that god created state troopers so chester cops could have heroes.