FALL RIVER, MA — As massive layoffs loom for 60 firefighters in July, dropping the complement from 213 to 153, Mayor Will Flanagan met with union leaders Tuesday and made an offer they may refuse.
In the meeting with Flanagan, Jason Burns, president of firefighters Local 1314, and union vice president and District Fire Chief James Mellen said the mayor laid out a plan the would save a few jobs if the union agreed to substantial pay cuts.
Burns said there were essentially two offers; the first was that the firefighters would take a 10 percent pay cut and increase staffing from 153 to 163. Through the second proposal, they would take a 15 percent pay cut and increase staffing to 171.
Burns said his membership is not opposed to concessions to help close the $4.5 million fire department gap but said Flanagan’s offer “is still on the backs of the firefighters.”
Flanagan, according to Burns, went on the airwaves to announce his offer before the union president had an opportunity present the offer to his membership.
The mayor made a similar move in January when he announced the pending layoffs to union leaders, then was interviewed by The Herald News immediately after and before union members would learn their fate. Flanagan acknowledged he made the concession offer to the firefighters but said his first goal is to deliver a balanced budget to the City Council.
Asked if he has approached any other departments’ unions about concessions, Flanagan said he had met with all but one.
Flanagan said that, with union contracts, any concessions or pay cuts would have to be voluntary and that, at this time, he is not considering layoffs in any other department.
However, if the City Council rejects the budget, he would have to go back and make cuts that could include layoffs.
Several councilors have stated publicly they would not vote for any budget that funds only 153 firefighters.
Burns said he will do his due diligence and present Flanagan’s proposal to his membership.
The firefighters are not taking the pending layoffs without a fight.
Tuesday, before the City Council finance meeting, approximately 75 firefighters, families and supporters peacefully picketed in front of Government Center dressed in their signature red, white and blue T-shirts with the logo “Support FRFD #213 United.”
Before the 6 p.m. meeting, as has been common during City Council meetings lately, the demonstrators poured into the City Council chambers, filling the seats and quietly observing the proceedings.
Mellen told the council the fire department tries to have 40 firefighters on duty at a time but said that goal is not always reached. If that goal isn’t reached, he said, the fire department doesn’t use overtime to fill positions. It will go unfilled, he said, and they will shut a truck down first.
“And roll the dice, basically hoping that nothing in that neighborhood needed that truck,” Mellen said. “Hope is not a strategy that we should be operating on. We still do that, we’re not trying to be a black hole for finances. We want to be part of the solution. Right now, we’re the only solution.”
With the cuts in staffing, the number of on-duty firefighters will decrease to 29, Mellen said, and the union thinks that will be impossible.
“We won’t have enough bodies,” Mellen said.
At a minimum, once staffing goes to 153, at least three pieces of fire apparatus will be taken out of service, Mellen said.
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