Concern over the possibility of losing their benefits, and maybe even their jobs, prompted Oxford’s full-time firefighters to go looking for the “Union Label.”
“We just want some representation,” said Fire Lt. Terry Roeher. “We want some protection. That’s the biggest thing.” Roeher and the department’s three other full-time firefighters are in the process of making the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) their exclusive bargaining representative.
By joining the IAFF, Oxford’s full-time firefighters would also be members of the Michigan Professional Firefighters Union and the AFL-CIO.
“Basically, we’re looking to safeguard our futures,” said Firefighter Ron Jahlas, who noted he has a wife and two small children to provide for. “We’re currently at-will employees. They could walk in tomorrow and fire all of us if they wanted.”
One of the main reasons the full-time firefighters chose to unionize was a Jan. 15 meeting of the Oxford Public Fire and EMS Commission at which officials discussed the possibility of cutting some of the firefighters’ paid days off such as holidays.
Under the draft of the “Oxford Fire Department Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual” being considered by OPFEC, full-time firefighters receive on an annual basis 12 paid holidays, 96 hours of personal leave and 3-5 days bereavement leave with pay, in the event of the death of an employee’s immediate family member.
Some commissioners questioned the nescessity of giving firefighters paid holidays for their individual birthdays, Good Friday and the Monday after Easter. Some officials also questioned why the firefighters have two more paid holidays than township and village employees who each have 10.
Some officials even questioned the number of paid bereavement days the firefighters are given.
Roeher said the firefighters were upset officials discussed “all this without talking to any of us.” “We didn’t hear about any of this until after the meeting,” he said.
“We just want some communication,” the lieutenant explained. “We didn’t want (a union). It was the last thing we wanted. We didn’t consider it until (the board) started discussing cuts without talking to us.”
Jahlas said he’s worried what a discussion about cutting days off “can lead to.” “If they cut days off now, is it going to be medical benefits next year?” he said. “We don’t know from one day to the next what’s going on here. Nobody’s being clear. That bothers us.”
“What’s the board up to right now? There’s not adequate communication between the board and firefighters,” Jahlas added.
Roeher and Jahlas said they can’t understand why the board would discuss cutting paid days off when the department is not overbudget or facing shortfalls.
“I’ve had these benefits since Day One,” Jahlas said.
The firefighters defended the paid days off they receive. Jahlas said these types of benefits, along with “pride in your work,” help offset the low pay firefighter and police officers often receive for the work they do.
Roeher said a few extra days off are also necessary given the “added stress” of being a firefighter. “Sometimes you see so much, you need time away,” he said.
“How many other people see dead people or houses destroyed while they’re at work,” Jahlas said.
OPFEC Chairman Bill Dunn said the firefighters took the board’s discussion “too literally.” “We didn’t act on anything,” he said. “We just talked. Nothing was agreed to. Just because we talk about something doesn’t mean it’s going to be done.”
Jahlas said some people may wonder why the full-time firefighters need a union when there’s only four of them, but it’s the small number that necessitates it.
“The board might start thinking they can do whatever they want because there’s only four of us,” he said.
The IAFF offers the four firefighters strength in numbers. “Over 100 fire departments in Michigan have the IAFF behind them,” Jahlas noted.
Roeher noted the continuing debate over which entity is going to oversee the fire department ? OPFEC, township, or a fire board ? is another reason for employees to seek the protection of a union. “With the political atmosphere in Oxford, we don’t know who’s going to be running us or what’s going to happen with the department,” he said. “Look what happened with the police department,” Jahlas said, referring to its dissolution in 2000.
With regard to the unionization effort, Dunn said, “The firefighters should have waited and not jumped to conclusions.” Whether or not they unionize, Dunn said, “Either way is fine with me. It’s their choice.”
Fire Chief Jack LeRoy said he’s remaining “neutral” on the union question.
The chief said doesn’t want to comment either way because he’s management and it wouldn’t be “prudent.”
Commissioner Steve Allen said he’s “not opposed to the firefighters joining a union. The “only thing” he’s opposed to is the “class separation” that will be created if the full-time staff joins, but not the approximately 35 paid-on-call firefighters. “I think they all should be part of a union, not just one group,” he said.
Allen said he experienced firsthand the “bad feelings” and “hardships” of having only unionized full-timers when he worked as a paid-on-call firefighter for the Mt. Pleasant Fire Department years ago.
“The paid-on-call (firefighters) got to do all the things the full-time union guys didn’t want to,” he said. “I don’t want to see that situation here.”
Commissioner Jerry Dywasuk he “support(s) their right to have a secret ballot election” regarding the union, however, he prefers to “wait for the outcome of the vote” before he comments.
Dywasuk said he doesn’t understand why the firefighters want to unionize. “No matter how the department’s run (in the future), there will always be jobs for firefighters,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any cause for real concern on their part.”
Commissioner John Thomas said he’s opposed to the unionization because in the long run “all it’s going to do is cost the township and village more money” in negotiations and legal fees.
Thomas said the firefighters’ concerns over the future of the department and their jobs are unfounded.
“As long as there’s an Oxford, there’s always going to be a fire department,” he said. Thomas said the firefighters don’t need a union because all of them are “always free to approach the board with their problems. Or they have a fire chief they can go through.”
As far as the firefighters benefits are concerned, Thomas said, “We treat out fireman very well. They have great (benefits) packages. And deservingly so, they’re lifesavers. I have a great respect for them.”
As part of the unionization process, Roeher asked OPFEC at it’s Feb. 19 meeting to recognize the IAFF as the full-time firefighters’ exclusive bargaining representative. However, OPFEC took no action regarding the request, preferring to consult legal counsel.
The board will discuss its “rights and obligations” concerning the union issue with its attorney during a special closed session meeting Wednesday, Feb. 26. According to Roeher, if OPFEC votes to recognize the union, “then we set up dues and go into contract negotiations.”
If OPFEC chooses not to recognize the union, Roeher said the Michigan Employment Relations Commission will have full-time firefighters vote on the issue via a secret ballot. If the majority votes to unionize, then it happens and “in the end, OPFEC has to recognize us,” he said.
“It’s all in the works right now,” Roeher said. “It’s kind of a wait and see game.”
“We’re not asking for the world. We’re not trying to start a war,” Jahlas said. “We’re just asking for voluntary recognition (of the union). We have a legal right to be in a union.”