Fulton Professional Firefighters again this week asked city officials to consider a negotiated agreement that would result in a contract.
On the City Council agenda was a resolution that would have allowed the mayor to sign documents with Ivan L. Schraeder, a St. Louis attorney, to represent the city at $300 per hour for his legal services relating to collective bargaining negotiations with the local fire fighters union.
Members of Fulton Professional Firefighters, IAFF, Local 2945, said on Tuesday the negotiated agreement contains language actually proposed by city representatives, and now that language is being questioned by the city. The language has to do with firing without just cause.
"We were happy to join in mediation last October," said firefighter Scott Peterson, a union member. "We negotiated an agreement."
The Fulton Professional Firefighters Local 2945 filed the lawsuit Oct. 20, 2017, against the City of Fulton. The lawsuit claims the city is failing to fairly negotiate contracts, according to documents filed in the 13th Judicial Court. They have been without a union contract since 2013.
Peterson said employee retention has suffered in the last few years since the contract expired, and a new contract would create stability for the city's firefighters and others.
"The community and taxpayers will benefit from stability as well," he added.
Continuing litigation will only cost the city, and its residents, more money.
"The court set a deadline of Feb. 1, 2019, to finalize the agreement," Peterson said.
The negotioated agreement contains items that are different than those in the city's employee handbook, councilperson Jeff Stone noted.
"Why do we want to agree to something that would be different than all the other city employees?" Stone said.
The right to bargain is set in law, according to Joey Mirth, firefighter and the local union president.
"We have a constitutional right to bargain," he said. "We're not comparing apples to apples. We do have the right, and we work 400 more hours a year (than regular city employees)."
After it's regular City Council meeting Tuesday night, members met in closed session. Johnson said Wednesday morning no action was taken following that closed meeting.
Background
As previously reported by the Fulton Sun:
Local 2945 is the bargaining unit representing full-time employees with the rank of firefighter or engineer working in the city's fire department. Local 2945 is a not-for-profit labor organization.
Under Missouri law, these employees have a constitutional right to organize and bargain, and the city has a duty to bargain in good faith with Local 2945. They bargained collectively and agreed upon a contract in 2004 governing terms and conditions for employment through 2015, according to the Oct. 20, 2017, petition.
Negotiations began over a new contract in late 2014. Parties then included Local 2945 (former) President Christopher M. McLeod and Vice President Todd Gray, as well as city Administrator Bill Johnson, former Assistant City Administrator Jerry Sorte, Human Resources Director Michelle Maupin and former Fire Chief Dean Buffington.
Johnson removed himself from the negotiating team in June 2015, according to the petition. Negotiating teams reached a tentative agreement and drafted an initial memorandum of understanding, which included a 9 percent pay raise for firefighters.
On Aug. 11, 2015, the initial memorandum of understanding was submitted to Fulton City Council members for approval. But at the meeting, Johnson recommended not approving the MOU, citing pay increase as a concern, according to the petition. The council voted against adopting the MOU.
In October 2015, Gray proffered a formal request at a City Council meeting to restart negotiations, but according to the petition, a response from the council was not forthcoming.
The city issued a memorandum Oct. 21, 2015, to all fire department personnel stating those belonging to Local 2945 were required to sign an acknowledgement of receipt of a new handbook or the city would revert to a 2013 Employee Policy Handbook and rescind all benefit increases provided since that time. The petition also notes members of Local 2945 signed the handbook acknowledgment but noted they were signing under duress.
The petition also stated on Oct. 25, 2015, city officials raised starting pay for new firefighters from $8.65 to $9.50 per hour, with an increase to $10 per hour after six months of employment. There was no raise for veteran firefighters in the department, the petition claims, nor was there an offer to bargain.
In February 2016, Local 2945 sent a letter to the city requesting new dates for bargaining sessions and negotiations were renewed in April of that year.
Between April and July 2016, negotiations resulted in an amended MOU dated July 13, 2016.
The petition stated Maupin asked to renegotiate certain items, and the union gave additional concessions between August 2016 and April 2017. In April, parties completed negotiations. City Council members took no action on the completed agreement.
An attorney representing Local 2945 sent a letter to the city Sept. 11, 2017, reminding them to take action on the finalized MOU. Johnson met with representatives from Local 2945 including McLeod, who stated unless the labor organization renegotiated more items including the "just cause" provision of the contract, he would not recommend the contract for approval, according to the petition.
Johnson said the city's representatives, including Maupin, "did not have city approval to negotiate or reach agreement on any of the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement," the petition states.
The city council voted unanimously Oct. 10, 2017, to reject the collective bargaining agreement.
According to the minutes from that meeting:
"Maupin explained that in the 'discipline' section of the document, the agreement states than no member may be fired without 'just cause.' Maupin stated the city always documents and tries to seek legal counsel prior to termination whenever possible, and the term 'just cause' is a legal term that is subjective and often difficult to define. Maupin said the second issue lies in the agreement's Extended Leave policy. The agreement would allow members to utilize extended sick leave for family members after using only 48 hours of PTO (paid time off). Maupin explained that all other city employees must exhaust their PTO, which encompasses both sick and vacation time, prior to kicking into extended leave for a family member's illness. Therefore, she believes the agreement provides members with a benefit that is unavailable to any other city employee."
Two council members recused themselves from the conversations: Beverly Gray, who is the mother of Fulton firefighter Todd Gray, and Vaughn, who said he has a union background. (Former) councilman Mike West was absent from that meeting. Mayor LeRoy Benton called for a vote with the five remaining council members, who all voted against approving the contract.
Local 2945's petition includes two counts: violation of constitutional duty to bargain and violation of statutory duty to bargain.
The petition asks the court to enter judgment including a requirement for the city to designate representatives for future bargaining sessions, appoint a "special master" to oversee future bargaining sessions, and require the city to cease "directly dealing with and threatening individual members of Local 2945."
On Dec. 5, 2017, Judge Jeff Harris of the 13th Circuit Court ordered both parties to submit a joint proposed scheduling order.