[March 13, 2009]

7 laid-off firefighters reinstated in Uniontown

(Tribune-Review Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Mar. 13--Seven laid-off Fayette County firefighters were to return to work today with full pay and benefits after an arbitration hearing, an outcome Uniontown Mayor Ed Fike said was unavoidable but will only add to the city's fiscal problems.

"Not really," said Fike when asked whether he was satisfied with terms of the agreement, reached Thursday after a 5 1/2-hour long, closed-door hearing. "We're still going to be hard-pressed for money." The seven firefighters were among 41 employees the city laid off in October and February. Fike has repeatedly said the city is broke as it struggles to pay bills left over from a previous administration, including a $700,000 tax anticipation loan and $300,000 in unpaid bills.

Joshua Bloom, attorney for the firefighters, said the agreement marks a starting point for the city and firefighters to begin working together.

"We get to move forward and try to work with the city to keep the firefighters employed," said Bloom, who had argued during an earlier court hearing that the layoffs created potentially deadly risks to residents and firefighters because of lack of manpower and decreased incident-response times.

The layoffs left the city with only six full-time firefighters. The department closed one of its two fire stations and scheduled only two men per eight-hour shift. Having only two firefighters at the station hampered response times, firefighters said, because they had to wait for backup from volunteers before they could enter burning buildings.

The two sides agreed to have an arbitrator decide their differences after their own talks failed to resolve grievances filed by the union, Local 955 of the International Association of Firefighters. The union accused the city of violating terms of its labor contract by failing to give them 30 days' prior notice of the layoffs, and by failing to meet with them to discuss alternatives.

Terms of the agreement call for three firefighters who were laid off in October to be guaranteed employment through Sept. 18. The remaining four, who were laid off in February, are guaranteed jobs until at least Dec. 31.

Benefits are to be restored immediately, but none of the firefighters will receive back pay. For the three firefighters who were laid off in October, Bloom said they would have been eligible for five months' back pay.

"They had over five months of back pay they compromised," Bloom said. "They gave up a substantial amount of money." Firefighters will be back on the payroll beginning today, but they agreed to wait until April 15 for their first paychecks. Fike said that gives the city more time to accumulate cash from recently mailed real-estate tax notices.

Kim Marshall, city clerk, estimated the cost to recall the firefighters at $250,000, which includes $30,000 for six months' benefits for the three firefighters who were laid off in October. The 2009 budget, she said, did not take into account any payroll expenses associated with those three firefighters.

Marshall, who along with Fike and city Solicitor Charles Gentile were among those who attended the hearing, said the arbitrator determined early on that the city had failed to give the required 30 days' prior notice of the October layoffs. Had the city not entered into yesterday's agreement, she said the arbitrator might have found the city liable for any back pay accrued during the layoffs.

Fike said that determination left the city with few options.

"We really didn't have any room where we could have saved money," Fike said.

Liz Zemba can be reached at lzemba@tribweb.com or 724-626-3561.

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