Union President Daniel Daugherty said the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191 has been waiting for the case to move forward in the state Appellate Division, Fourth Department, in Rochester since last fall.
In September, the city appealed State Supreme Court Judge James P. McClusky’s decision to allow the union to take the city to arbitration over the issue of the eight demoted captains.
A spokeswoman for the Appellate Court confirmed on Wednesday that the case will be heard in Rochester on May 24.
The 70-member union has been without a contract since July 2014. The contract talks became increasingly bitter after eight captains were demoted to firefighters last July. The eight lost about 20 percent of their annual salaries when they were demoted, while the city made the change to save about $100,000 a year.
Mr. Daugherty said he believes that the union will be successful in the Appellate court.
“We haven’t lost anything yet,” he said, noting that the union has several other court actions pending against the city.
The firefighters and the state Public Employees Relations Board wanted the case to go to arbitration, but the city’s attorneys, Bond, Schoeneck & King, filed the appeal in September, so it’s ending up with the appellate court.
The bargaining unit also filed an improper-practice charge and another case involving the captains’ issue with PERB.
Both sides have predicted that the dispute might not be resolved for two more years.
The main sticking point remains the issue involving the “minimal manning” stipulation that 15 firefighters must be on duty at all times. The city contends that the stipulation causes the department to be overstaffed, while the union maintains that changing it would be unsafe.
PERB must rule on the minimal manning issue before the two sides can agree on a new contract. The two sides also are debating — known as scope charges — what should be brought up during arbitration.
In a related matter, Judge McClusky released his decision regarding a new set of standard operating procedures that went into effect in October as the result of the eight demotions.
In his March 10 written decision, Judge McClusky denied the city’s motion to stay arbitration in a dispute with the firefighters’ union over not paying differential pay to acting captains.
According to the SOP, battalion chiefs were given the ability to temporarily promote firefighters to the role of acting captains on an as-needed basis, depending on the situation, such as when a call becomes more serious or another call comes in at another scene.
Acting captains receive a 94-cent-an-hour pay differential for the entire shift. Daytime firefighters working 10-hour shifts now make $9.40 more a shift before taxes, while firefighters working 14 hours during a night shift earn $13.16 more a shift.
On 11 occasions, City Manager Sharon A. Addison refused to approve the differential pay for acting captains, contending the temporary promotions were not needed.
The bargaining unit filed a grievance and the city tried to convince the judge to issue a stay on the arbitration.
“...The city manager can not have buyers remorse and decide not to authorize the expenditure of funds,” the judge wrote in his decision.
The city plans to appeal, Mr. Daugherty said.
“It’s the second Appellate (case) going to Rochester,” he said.
Ms. Addison was not available for comment.
With 11 separate actions filed, the union and the city are fighting on several legal fronts, including five with PERB. After an original judge recently left PERB for another position, those cases are back on track. Judge Nancy L. Burritt has been appointed to preside over those cases.
Among the other cases filed by the union are: the demoted firefighters are working out of title and the city has left a captain’s position vacant. That case is in mediation.
Nathaniel Lambright of the Syracuse law firm of Blitman & King represents the firefighters’ union.
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©2017 Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, N.Y.)
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