FIREFIGHTERS Trustees to OK contract

Trustees and part-time firefighters negotiated for 21/2 years.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Township trustees are set to approve a contract with one township union while considering counteroffers for contracts from two others.
The first contract between trustees and the township's part-time firefighters is expected to be approved at tonight's trustees meeting. The part-timers voted to approve the contract Monday night.
"We're pleased we're finally able to reach a contract agreement. It's been a long time coming," said Bob Bernat, business agent and treasurer for Teamsters Local 377, which represents the firefighters.
Bernat added that the township's office staff and road department employees will be presenting trustees with what he called "bare minimum" counteroffers before tonight's meeting. Local 377 represents both groups of employees.
Trustees voted last month to offer the office staff and road department employees 3 percent annual raises over three years. The contracts with both groups of employees expired at the end of last year.
If trustees don't approve the counter-offers, the employees will seek the opinion of a state fact-finder on the negotiations, Bernat said. He wouldn't say what the counteroffers included.
Provisions
The three-year contract with the 34 part-time firefighters, which is retroactive to 2003, calls for them to receive 3 percent annual raises while working a total of at least 9,000 hours each year.
Trustees also agreed to give part-timers a 3-percent raise retroactive to 2002 as part of a separate agreement earlier this year.
Based on township figures, the contract is estimated to cost a total of $456,360 over three years. That includes $147,800 for last year, $143,600 of which has already been paid out.
"We weren't looking for any type of money to break anybody's back," said Walt Donitzen, shop steward for the part-time firefighters. "We just wanted a fair shake and some job security."
He noted that trustees had cut part-time firefighters' wages from about $11 an hour to about $8 an hour in 1997.
Trustee Lisa Oles called the agreement "long overdue," and noted that township officials have been negotiating with the part-time firefighters for 21/2 years. Trustees Bo Pritchard and David Ditzler could not be reached to comment.
Part-time firefighters had been at odds with trustees over the minimum number of hours they would be guaranteed each year under the contract. Donitzen has said the 34 part-time firefighters work a total of 12,000-14,000 hours each year; trustees had offered to guarantee firefighters 8,760 hours each year.
Bernat and township Administrator Michael Dockry reached an agreement on 9,000 hours last week during a meeting with a state mediator in Columbus. As part of the agreement, the union dropped an unfair-labor practice complaint against the township, Dockry said.
Trustees also still have to negotiate a contract with the township park department employees, who joined the Teamsters earlier this year. Assistant Township Zoning Inspector Eric Harris Sr. also is seeking trustees' recognition as a one-man bargaining unit.
All but eight of the township's 98 full-time employees are members of unions.
hill@vindy.com