The City of Springfield is expecting to approve a new contract with its firefighters’ union soon.
Golly, I wish we had that kind of news coverage. Remember the last-minute hoop we had to jump through to find what the 2011 contract with our firefighters was about?
The Springfield story reminded me that the longish closed sessions our council is holding lately have something to do with collective bargaining and not just horse-trading over the appointment of the new city manager. Sure enough, DeKalb’s agreement with International Association of Firefighters Local 1236 expires June 30, 2014.
I meant to look at the contract anyway because during the last council meeting, they were speaking in code while talking about the latest emergency services contract. The code was “7(g)” and turns out “7(g)” is shorthand for, “How much the city is going to pay emergency personnel to attend sporting events.”
But on to the quid pro quo.
The parties acknowledge that the Union’s agreed modifications of the existing retiree health insurance benefits agreed to herein are a material part of the quid pro quo for the parties’ minimum shift manning agreement (Article VI, Section 6.8) and are subject to the terms of the parties’ Side Letter, a copy of which is attached as Appendix J.
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Ms. Fazekas is missing something. Firefighters aren’t merely “attending” sporting events. They are on duty and quite often called into action during these events. It is not their recreational choice to do this and when they are off duty would probably prefer to be with their families.