City and firefighters resume negotiations
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles does some solid reporting on the resumed negotiations between the city and Houston Firefighters.
According to Stiles, HFD negotiators have a better grasp of firefighter concerns after polling the rank and file online.
Councilmember Mark Goldberg, who lately seems to enjoy sticking his foot in his mouth, has the following to say about the process:
Councilman Mark Goldberg said he doesn't believe firefighters understood budget implications before the last vote.
"Even if most of the firefighters are expecting a certain amount of pay increase, if it's not within in the city of Houston budget, then we can't agree to it," he said.
Mayor White has been very good about finding money for projects that are a priority for him, so that's not an especially compelling argument. But it's certainly less offensive than Goldberg's echoing the Chronicle in effectively calling out Houston firefighters as stupid. Too bad the Chronicle editorialists aren't bumping up against term limits like Councilmember Goldberg.
Councilmember Adrian Garcia's comments were more reasonable:
Councilman Adrian Garcia, who chairs the public safety committee, said he believes the city ought to leave the shifts alone, even if it means a lower pay raise. The gesture is necessary, he said, to build trust among the firefighters, many of whom believe previous mayoral administrations haven't treated them fairly.
One provision of the agreement that concerned firefighters will apparently be clarified:
[Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Roland] Chavez said at least one other hot-button provision that doomed the last contract has been fixed. Some firefighters thought an ambiguous section of the deal meant the city was retreating from its commitment to staffing trucks and engines with four firefighters.
That commitment, which Chavez said would be explicit in any new deal, is a critical safety issue to firefighters, who've seen five of their colleagues die on duty in as many years.
No agreement is likely to win approval without that clarification.
The city needs to get this deal done. Houston firefighters deserve a raise (and a little more respect from certain people on Council), and an administration that was able to implement Tasers and SAFEclear so rapidly surely can close the deal on a real matter of public safety.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/01/05 09:25 PM | Print |
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