Fire union won't negotiate contract
The Whitefish Fire Department notified
city manager Chuck Stearns that the fire union will not be opening
their contract to negotiations regarding the 2012 city budget. The
department is due a 1.3 percent cost of living raise and a 2
percent Step increase.
Whitefish City Council had asked
Stearns to talk with the fire union about opening their three-year
contract for wage discussions. The contract is slated to end next
June 30.
Fire union president Scott Alexander
explained they will not open the current contract because it was
collectively bargained and made in “good faith” and that they took
a wage freeze last year.
“We opened last year to help bail the
city out of some real financial trouble they were having with a
lawsuit and other things,” Alexander said.
He said Stearns presented the union
with a balanced budget for 2012 that has raises built into it.
“We came back to Stearns and said
‘fantastic we’re glad to see the city is back on its feet,’”
Alexander said. “We understand that things can come up that are
really necessary, but this year the budget seems fine.”
He noted that some firefighters haven’t
seen a pay increase since they started working at the
department.
“It’s time to give some of these guys
an attaboy and boost morale,” Alexander said.
The Whitefish Police Department offered
the city a limited opening to their contract, Stearns reports, and
will negotiate with a floor of a 3.3 percent pay increase.
A year ago the police association was
asked to open their contract and they gave up a cost of living
increase and two Step increases. This year they have indicated they
will reopen for collective bargaining and that they would like to
delay until 2014 the second 2 percent Step increase that is due to
them.
At the July 5 City Council meeting,
councilor Chris Hyatt moved to freeze any pay raises for city
employees after learning the fire union wouldn’t open their
contract to negotiations. Councilor Phil Mitchell seconded the
motion.
“I see city staff that’s not part of a
union, then we have another group that bargains and they get $500
signing bonuses,” Hyatt said at the meeting. “I have a hard time
with that.”
Councilor John Muhlfeld noted that
unless a union volunteers to open their contract, the city can’t
freeze pay raises.
Stearns said that enacting a pay freeze
for the fire department would be a breach of the contract, and it
likely would be for the police association, too. A pay freeze could
be an option for any non-union workers and the Public Works
Department, which has an open contract, Stearns said.
Mayor Mike Jenson told the council that
instead of threatening a pay freeze, they “could believe Chuck has
presented a balanced budget.”
Councilor Bill Kahle said he wasn’t
ready to talk about pay freezes.
“If it was a pay freeze everybody
agrees to, that’s one thing,” he said. “We’re talking about
violating a contract and I have a problem with that.”
Hyatt later rescinded the pay-freeze
motion.