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by BEN EBEN NEWHOUSE and KIAWANA RICH
After more than two years of fruitless contract negotiations, the union representing firefighters announced yesterday it will take the city to binding arbitration before the state Public Employment Relations Board.
"All of our attempts to settle this contract have failed because this administration does not care about public safety and clearly does not care about New York City firefighters," said Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York.
"We will be available to negotiate should they choose to change their minds, but given the offer they made us, which was outrageous, we are frustrated and disappointed on behalf of our members and will proceed with the PERB process," he said.
Cassidy said the city's terms were less favorable than the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association recently received in arbitration.
"They won't pay us what we're worth. We want the PBA offer, we want it now," he said. "They've asked for increased concessions, which diminish that offer, and it's outrageous."
James Hanley, commissioner of the Office of Labor Relations, responded in a statement that the city is willing to negotiate.
"Labor contracts are best settled at the bargaining table, and the city has been, and continues to be, ready to negotiate any time," he said.
In June, as part of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association's agreement with PERB, police officers received a 10.25 percent raise that was retroactive from Aug. 1, 2002, to July 31, 2004. For most officers, that means more than $12,000 in back pay.
Under the arbitrated settlement, officers cede one personal day and add five rescheduling days, increasing to 15 the number of days on which patrol officers can be rescheduled without overtime.
Also, Police Academy recruits' annual salary was slashed to $25,100. Under the old contract, recruits began receiving starting pay of $34,514 during their six months of training at the academy. Officers then worked their way up the department's incremental wage scale, which maxed out at $60,818 after 21 years. Rookie officers now will get bumped up to scale wages only after graduation.
Most Staten Island firefighters asked about the upcoming arbitration refused to comment yesterday.
The few who did said they were unhappy about the arbitration and that firefighters have had to go so long without a contract.
Edward Morri of New Dorp, union representative for Ladder Co. 81, South Beach, said he'd heard nothing from the union about imminent arbitration.
Even if he had, he said, first and foremost on his mind and the minds of firefighters at the house are scores of brother firefighters heading South to help those devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
"We are more worried about the people from Louisiana," said Morri. "We sent 300 men there two nights ago and we have 20, maybe 30 guys here waiting for word [to travel]."
At Engine Co. 164/Ladder Co. 84 in Huguenot, a New Dorp firefighter who declined to give his name would say only that the upcoming talks were "a long time coming. ... This is our fourth year without [a contract] -- you take it from there."
At Engine Co. 167/Ladder Co. 87 in Annadale, an Eltingville firefighter who also wished to remain anonymous, commented on givebacks. "That's not really a raise: Giving back and getting money is not really getting a raise, and going four years without getting a raise, I feel, nothing good comes out of it," he said.
He voiced the sentiment that Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't much care about firefighters.
"He's a billionaire and he likes keeping the cost of things down," he said.
The firefighter maintained that civil servants are always getting the short end of the stick.
"The city, in a way, always makes it look like they don't have money and all of a sudden they want a Yankee Stadium or a Mets stadium, or we are building an Olympic stadium, and they have extra millions. But when it comes to us, they nickel-and-dime it".
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