Warren Fire Department faces two more layoffs Jan. 1

By Ed Runyan

There will be 59 on the police force and 50 in the fire department come Jan. 1.

WARREN — Though the city and two of its biggest unions agreed on concessionary contracts this week, the city and its firefighters union are still far apart in negotiations, which will mostly likely result in two fire department layoffs Jan. 1.

Gary Cicero, Warren human relations director, and Marc Titus, a member of the firefighters union, said the parties go to mediation next week but it’s unlikely anything can be resolved before Jan. 1.

The city will follow through with its threat to lay off two workers Jan. 1 if a contract agreement is not reached, Cicero said.

Officials won’t discuss specific issues that are holding up an agreement.

In early November, workers from various city departments who are members of a health insurance committee voiced their concerns at a press conference.

Lt. Chuck Eggelston of the fire department, chairman of the committee, said the city has ignored input of committee members. He demanded that the city put its health- care contract out to bid to cut costs.

A majority of city council members agree , but say the city’s law department refused to draft legislation to implement it.

Cicero, meanwhile, said last month there is a contractual roadblock preventing the city from bidding out its health-care plan: Union contracts in the city dictate that workers get what is known as “first-dollar” coverage, meaning that the insurance pays the first dollar of the bill, with the employee paying nothing.

Titus said layoff of two more firefighters Jan. 1 would bring the department to 50 firefighters, a drop of about 30 percent from the 71 firefighters the department had at this time last year.

The city laid off 15 firefighters effective Jan. 1, 2009, including four vacancies that were not filled. It also laid off 20 police officers effective Jan. 1, 2009, reducing that department from 81 to 61.

The police department will remain with a staff of 59, following that union’s approval of a 2010 contract Tuesday. Two officers have left since this time last year. One retired, and one took another job.

Detective Wayne Mackey, a union representative, said the officers were willing to make concessions to ensure the department doesn’t face more layoffs.

“Right now, we have so few officers on the road; it’s unsafe out there. The risk factor for officers in the city of Warren has gone up by 300 percent” in the past year. Mackey said he was primarily referring to officer safety.

The police contract includes a wage freeze for the 37 officers covered. Each officer will make $23.97 per hour, or $49,858 per year.

Police officers made that amount the first half of 2009 but agreed to concessions the second half of 2009 that paid them $23.05 per hour, or $47,944 annually.

Their pay at the start of 2009 rose 4 percent from 2008 in the last year of a multiyear contract.

The officers’ 2010 contract calls for officers to give back 2 percent of the 10 percent “pension pickup” the city pays for them, meaning the city will now pay 8 percent of the pension pickup. That saves the city $43,000 in 2010, Cicero said. A pension pickup is when the city pays a portion of the employee contribution to the state pension system as well as the employer’s share.

The police department health- care concessions will save the city $40,000 in 2010, Cicero said.

The 187 Warren employees represented by Local 74 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, agreed to a one-year wage freeze and a 10 percent contribution to health care Monday.

Pay for AFSCME workers ranges from $22.65 per hour ($47,112 annually) for a sanitarian supervisor in the health department to $15.11 per hour ($31,429 annually) for a clerk/typist or laborer.

The city has about 392 employees overall.

AFSCME, which represents most workers not in the police and fire departments, has also agreed to let the city of Cleveland handle a portion of the city’s income-tax collections, a move that Cicero says could increase collections by $250,000 to $500,000 per year.

The city has three income-tax collection workers now instead of the six it employed in the past, Cicero said, adding that the city has no plan to reduce staffing further.

The city is still negotiating with two management unions — one in the police department and one that represents department heads — but the city expects to reach agreements with both of those unions before Jan. 1, Cicero said.

runyan@vindy.com