Warren firefighters approve contract

The head of the firefighters union says elected city leaders should give back their cost-of-living increases.

VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT

WARREN — Firefighters approved a concessionary contract Sunday that saves the city $86,000 in 2010 and preserves the jobs of two firefighters threatened with layoffs.

Marc Titus, president of the union representing the department’s 52 firefighters, said the membership approved the contract 33-15.

It includes the three major concessions approved by police officers, police dispatchers and many other city workers earlier: Firefighters will now pay 10 percent of their health care bill, their wages will be frozen in 2010, and the city’s share of their pension will drop from 10 percent to 8 percent.

The health-care plan for city workers in the past required them to make no contribution to health care.

Titus said the contract requires the department to have a staffing level of at least 11 per day, one of the main issues that prevented the city and the firefighters from reaching an agreement earlier, Titus said.

“We were fighting over manning the entire time, not money,” Titus said of negotiations that took longer than those with police officers and most other workers.

Titus said usually about 12 firefighters work on an average day, but there have been days when as few as eight were on duty because of sick days and vacation.

If too many firefighters are off on a given day, firefighters will be called in on overtime, he said.

Titus says the only thing left now is for elected officials to agree to the same type of concessions that rank and file workers have.

“We’re asking them to lead by example,” Titus said. He noted that Mayor Michael O’Brien gave back his cost of living increase, but others have not.

“When you see people getting pay raises, you feel that it’s not as bleak as they’re saying,” Titus said.

The city administration laid off 11 firefighters effective Jan. 1, 2009, and didn’t replace four others who retired in 2008. The reductions were part of a budget-cutting measure that also eliminated 20 jobs in the police department and eight in other city departments.