Category: Staffing

Local 46 of the International Association of Fire Fighters represents firefighters, paramedics, captains, and the battalion and assistant chiefs working for the City of Everett, Washington. Since 1974, a provision in Local 46’s collective bargaining agreement established a minimum number of firefighters on duty for each shift. In 2014, the City and Local 46 engaged in negotiations for a successor collective bargaining agreement. In response to the significant increase…

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The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between Lodge 123 of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the City of Oklahoma City contains both a management rights and a maintenance of benefits clause. The management rights clause reserves to the City “the right to plan, direct, and control all operations relating to the Police Department . . . subject to the provisions of this contract.” The maintenance of benefits clause…

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The usual rule of thumb is that firefighter staffing per apparatus – e.g., the number of firefighters per engine – is a mandatory subject for collective bargaining. However, most labor boards conclude that the number of firefighters per shift, or per service population, are not mandatorily negotiable issues. Washington’s Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) recently issued a lengthy opinion concluding that if the evidence is sufficient, staffing per shift…

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The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and the City of East Cleveland has always required a set number of firefighter staffing assignments. In 2006, the agreement required the City to staff 14 firefighters per shift, with the full-time, IAFF firefighters subject to recall on overtime to maintain the minimum staffing requirement. The City, citing fiscal concerns, began using part-time, non-IAFF firefighters to…

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The collective bargaining agreement between the City of Allentown, Pennsylvania and Local 302 of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) contained a provision setting a minimum on-duty shift strength of no less than 26 firefighters as of January 1, 2005; no less than 27 firefighters as of January 1, 2006; and no less than 28 firefighters as of January 1, 2007. In May 2011, the parties began to…

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The City of Allentown, Pennsylvania and the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 302 were parties to a collective bargaining agreement set to expire in December 2011. The CBA provided that the City Fire Department was required to have 140 sworn personnel with an on-duty shift strength of no less than 28 firefighters. When negotiations failed to produce a new agreement, the City and Local 302 proceeded to arbitration….

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The City of New Britain, Connecticut and the New Britain Firefighters Association, Local 922 of the IAFF are parties to a collective bargaining agreement. Section 5.4 of the CBA contains a minimum staffing clause. Believing the City had violated the clause, Local 922 submitted a grievance to arbitration. At the outset of the arbitration hearing, the City and Local 922 agreed to a broad “statement of the issue,” which…

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The contract between the City of Ecorse, Michigan and the Ecorse Fire Fighters Union has a minimum staffing provision calling for five firefighters per shift. When the City began facing economic difficulties, it began disregarding the minimum staffing rules. The Union filed a grievance, seeking a remedy of a lump-sum overtime payment to divide among its members. The Union argued that the $90,000 to $100,000 payment it was seeking…

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