http://www.nypost.com/seven/05132009/news/regionalnews/fire_war_is_raging_over_o_t__168975.htm
New York Post
FIRE
WAR IS RAGING OVER O.T.
By DAVID SEIFMAN City Hall Bureau Chief
May 13, 2009
The firefighters union won't agree to a deal that would
spare 16 fire companies from the budget ax because it's concerned about losing
out on overtime, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta charged yesterday.
Testifying before the City Council, Scoppetta warned he'll
have to cut one ladder company and three engine companies by July and another
12 fire units next year to save $18 million.
All the affected firehouses would remain open with reduced
manpower.
Scoppetta said the closings could be averted if the
Uniformed Firefighters Association would allow the city to operate all 198
engine companies with four firefighters each, instead of the five now required
under its contract at 64 companies.
"When you staff 64 engines with five firefighters, it
generates overtime because you must start the tour with those five
firefighters," Scoppetta explained. "They want that overtime."
Under a longtime provision in the union contract, the FDNY
has to provide minimum manning at many positions -- even if that means calling
in personnel on overtime if someone is out sick.
With fewer firefighters retiring, Scoppetta said there were
times this year when 100 engine companies each had five firefighters, leading
to complaints from the union that there was "no overtime in the field."
Union president Steve Cassidy disputed Scoppetta's account.
"It's a safety issue," insisted Cassidy, citing a
report prepared by the Fire Department itself in 1987 that raised concerns
about whether four-person fire crews were adequate to do the job.
Cassidy said further that he never discussed overtime with
Scoppetta, but simply questioned why he had added 500 to 600 firefighters to
the force at a time when it was fully staffed and Mayor Bloomberg was
complaining about soaring pension and health care costs in the department.
"Rank-and-file firefighters have worked virtually no
overtime other than what is contractually required," said Cassidy.
"The fire commissioner is doing what he's very good at
-- which is mixing apples and oranges."
In February, Scoppetta announced plans to cap administrative
overtime following reports in The Post that 72 percent of the FDNY's uniformed
force have retired on tax-free disability pensions since 2004, often by
inflating their pre-retirement-year paychecks with vast sums of overtime.
david.seifman@nypost.com
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