On Tuesday the Oklahoma City Council set a special election for January 10 to resolve a million-dollar dispute with the local firefighters union.
That decision could cost taxpayers as much as $100,000. The council’s 6-0 vote set aside an arbitrator’s decision, which means they have to put a proposed contract with the firefighters to a vote of the people, The Journal Record’s Brian Brus reports:
The two primary points of contention are City Hall’s effort to convert the emergency dispatch call center to non-union staffing and the elimination of a 15-year-old overtime pay standard allowing firefighters to earn time-and-a-half even when they’re on personal leave. Allowing those contract elements to stand will cost the city about $1 million for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, Berry said, a year in which every other department was asked for cuts to cover revenue shortfalls due to an economic downturn. Union President Scott Van Horn said he was shocked when the City Council pushed the question to a public vote. The union’s offer compensated for the points that Berry outlined, he said, a point on which a neutral arbitrator agreed. In exchange for the overtime pay standard, for example, firefighters were willing to forego an annual pay raise and reduce their insurance benefits, he said.
As part of pay rate negotiations in 2000, firefighters agreed to stop selling unused vacation days back to the city. Firefighters work 27 eight-hour days for 216 total hours. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime goes into effect after 204 hours, and Van Horn told Brus the two sides dispute what to do with the remaining 12 hours.
[Assistant City Manager M.T.] Berry said that although the City Council called a special election, it’s still possible the union could make another pitch for a new deal. Van Horn said he couldn’t imagine any other counter-offer. The eight ward representatives and Mayor Mick Cornett discussed the matter in executive session for about an hour before six of them returned to council chambers to reveal their 6-0 decision. Of the three who did not return, Councilman Pete White said that he stayed out of the room because he didn’t want to stand against the majority. When asked about his absence immediately afterward, Councilman John Pettis Jr. said he had gone to the bathroom instead. Larry McAtee, the third councilman who did not return to open session for the vote, could not be reached for comment.
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