New Firefighter & DPW Contracts Feature One Year Pay Freeze, Avert Layoffs

New contracts with firefighters and Department of Public Works employees will prevent layoffs in those departments for the coming year.

The Town Council voted Tuesday evening to ratify contracts, approved the previous evening by the two unions. The contracts feature what town officials are characterizing as significant givebacks in order to prevent layoffs.

The Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association and the Teamsters negotiated contracts which call for one year pay freezes for both unions and changes to health plans for the coming year. Pay freezes have not been ruled out for future years of the contracts and details of those have not been released pending the formal signing of the documents by the town and unions.

Councilman Mark Ciarrocca said town negotiators, led by Town Administrator Jim Gildea, laid out to the two unions the current fiscal situation facing the town and possibility that layoffs would be needed to balance the budget. Ciarrocca, the finance committee chairman, has previously said that cuts are likely in the budget being written by his committee.

"There is no joke about this," Ciarrocca said during a media availbility following the meeting. "There were going to be layoffs."

Ciarrocca and Gildea both declined to say how many layoffs were being considered by the committee for either the fire or public works departments. They would only characterize the proposed layoffs as "multiple." They said the contracts only averted layoffs for 2010 and do not address future years, noting that continued declines in non tax revenue and uncertainty in new property tax rules from Trenton make it impossible to make projections for future budgets.

Gildea said the contracts do not include language forbidding layoffs in future years.

Ciarrocca and other members of the Council praised the two unions for being willing to work with the town government on these issues and look to give back. They noted that the contracts were made possible by the more senior members, who are involved in the union leadership, wanted to protect the less senior members, who would have been the first to be laid off in the event of any cuts.

"The members of the FMBA and the Teamsters were at all times incredibly professional," Ciarrocca said. "They did not forget that these are tough times for the people of the town of Westfield. The agreements we have negotiated are in the best interests of the town of Westfield."

The ratification of the FMBA contract brings to the end an over year long negotiation between the town and the union. The contract expired at the end of 2008 and led to a series of Town Council meetings before the June 2009 passage of the last town budget where firefighters would sit silently in the back of the Council chamber in a show of unity against any proposed layoffs. Last year's budget did not include firefighter layoffs, which were feared by those in the fire department.

The decision to ratify a contract avoided the possibility of arbitration between the town and the FMBA. Under state public employment laws, the ruling of the arbitrator would have been binding on both sides. Local government leaders statewide have expressed concern in recent years that the arbitration rules have supported unions over municipalities.

The new contract will cover the period starting at the expiration of the old contract at the beginning of 2009 and run through the end of 2012. For 2009, firefighters will receive a retroactive 3.75-percent raise equivalent to what was granted to DPW workers and police officers for the same year. Town officials said this number was reached due to the amount give to the other unions and the amount likely to be awarded in arbitration.

Gildea said the retroactive raise will not cover the entire 2009 period, with the raise covering the period starting Feb. 15, 2009 and extending through the end of the year. Gildea said this will save six weeks in additional income for the taxpayers. In addition the retroactive raise for 2009 will not cover overtime and holiday pay, but rather just base salaries. Town officials trumpeted both of these concessions as givebacks from the FMBA.

"They made substantial and real sacrifices," Ciarrocca said.

The contract with the Teamsters will run for 2010 and 2011. As the contract did not expire last year, no retroactive pay increases are needed.

Negotiations continue with the union representing town police officers, whose contract expired at the beginning of this year. Town officials said negotiations are continuing with the PBA and are a part of the budget process.

Details of pay increases for the future years of the contract are expected to become available in the coming weeks after the formal signing of the contracts and the introduction of new ordinances to codify sections of the new contracts, including the salary guides.

Town officials used last night to play up the give backs from the two unions and the cooperative spirit between the town government and the unions.

"These people decided what was in the best interest of Westfield," Gildea said.