Council shoots down fire union’s offer on HMO

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October 2, 2008

<a href="mailto:jlotemplio@pressrepublican.com">By JOE LOTEMPLIO</a> The Press Republican Thu Oct 02, 2008, 10:59 PM EDT

PLATTSBURGH — City councilors firmly rejected an offer from the Fire Department union regarding a change in health-insurance benefits.

Using strong language, councilors said the union leadership is not acting in good faith toward taxpayers, fellow city employees and even their own union members.

“This union is holding the rest of the unions in the city and the city hostage,” Councilor James Calnon (I-Ward 4) said.

The city is seeking to self-fund its health maintenance organization plan as recommended by a task force made up of council and union leaders.

The move could save the city more than $700,000 per year and would reduce the amount employees who pay a portion of their healthcare would have to pay.

Four of the five city unions have agreed to the change, except the Fire Department union.

Firefighters delivered a proposal to the city this week that said they would accept the HMO change only if the city grants them a 3-percent raise retroactive to Jan. 1 of this year and extends their expired contract for one more year.

The fire union contract expired Dec. 31, 2007. The next bargaining session is schedule for Oct. 7.

Councilors and Mayor Donald Kasprzak opted to put the union’s proposal on Thursday night’s agenda for a vote.

The council was unanimous in rejecting the union’s offer.

“I am discouraged and disgusted over this,” Councilor Chris Jackson (D-Ward 6) said.

Jackson said he has tried to be a friend to the Fire Department, noting he brokered an agreement for Plattsburgh State to provide the department funding for equipment.

“I am in favor of a paid Fire Department, but not paid at any cost,” he said.

“As firefighters, they should know something about burning bridges.”

Calnon said the union has the legal right to negotiate the HMO change.

“They do have the legal right, but I question whether they have the moral right to hold the rest of the city hostage,” Calnon said.

Timothy Carpenter (D-Ward 1) said he wondered if the entire union knew all of the facts of the HMO change.

“I’ve got to believe that all the union members did not have the true information about this because if they did, they would understand,” Carpenter said.

Union Public Information Officer Mark Gadway said the full union membership was thoroughly informed on the issue.

“Everyone was well-informed and aware of the alternatives and the consequences,” Gadway said.

The union has argued that the HMO change constitutes a negotiated item and should be part of bargaining sessions.

Gadway said he was disappointed in the council’s vote.

“I don’t know what direction the union body wants to go in, but we will meet on Oct. 7 and go from there,” Gadway said.

Councilor Michael Kelly (D-Ward 2) voted against the union’s proposal but said he felt that the issue does belong at the bargaining table.

“Compromise is the only way to come to a satisfactory agreement,” Kelly said.

Amy Valentine (D-Ward 5) said the situation was unfortunate, and she was disappointed in the union’s position.

“This is a statement of how detached the union is to the health-care burden,” she said.

“How they have been operating is counter to what a union should be doing; to serve everyone and not just a select few.”

George Rabideau (R-Ward 3) said the union was being “self-serving.”

“The Fire Department is not part of the solution. They are part of the problem,” he said.

“I think the community is behind us because the taxpayers have reached a point where they are beginning to understand where we are.”

The mayor, who fought with the union over many of the same issues when he was a councilor in the early 1990s, said the union’s tactics were “unacceptable and wrong.”

“I know they don’t care how I feel, but maybe they will care about the way the six of you feel,” he told the council.

E-mail Joe LoTemplio at:

jlotemplio@pressrepublican.com