Dear Editor:
We hope this helps clarify some of the concerns that Mr.
Feinberg and the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce have about the cost for
providing fire protection for Gilroy citizens.
Dear Editor:
We hope this helps clarify some of the concerns that Mr. Feinberg and the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce have about the cost for providing fire protection for Gilroy citizens.
Let’s get the facts straight about wages and benefits for Gilroy firefighters. Public safety is 54.45 percent of the city’s workforce. 15.56 percent of that is fire and 38.89 percent is police. Public safety totals 76.34 percent of the city’s budget. 24.32 percent of that is for the fire department.
Mr. Feinberg writes that Gilroy firefighter benefits are more generous than those received by other public sector employees. That is false. Other public sector employees receive retired medical benefits, fully paid medical and dental for their family and a higher retirement percentage rate.
Mr. Feinberg writes that binding arbitration prevents public safety employees from striking, but has resulted in huge contract rewards for the unions. Public safety employees are prevented from striking due to a peaceful performance section of most public safety contracts. Binding arbitration settles an impasse between two parties. An arbitrator, chosen through a process agreed upon by both sides, resolves the impasse at a hearing. Binding arbitration was taken to Gilroy voters and passed. The city has only gone to binding arbitration once and both sides had to make concessions. Arbitration does not favor the unions; it favors the party who is able to make their case the best. It is similar to going to court and having a judge decide on an issue.
Mr. Feinberg also states that if CALPERS investments go down in value the taxpayers lose because they have to make up the difference. Mr. Feinberg you are on the right track, but not completely there. Firefighters have 9 percent of their paycheck paid to PERS. The city pays another percentage, which varies depending on their contribution rate. That rate has been as low as 3 percent for firefighters. For many years the city has not had to pay anything. They have been working on a credit due to the good economic conditions. Now the economy has gone down so they now must pay their rate. So you are partially right, that the taxpayers pay, but only sometimes.
This is better for the citizens than a 401K is for a company. In a 401K the employer may have a matching program. With PERS the city has a matching program, but they are not always required to pay depending on the return in their investment.
Mr. Feinberg you believe that in 1999 the firefighters wanted to go from three to four firefighters on an engine but did not state the reasoning behind it. In 1999 firefighters wanted to improve their safety. In doing so they were asking for an increase in staffing, as they have always had to do since the city has never increased staffing on its own.
So, in an effort to comply with OSHA safety standards, the union was trying to negotiate for more fire personnel. One of the first options the union tried to negotiate was the staffing of the Sunrise Station with a fire engine with three firefighters. Throughout the arbitration, the union made this offer. The city was determined to get the funding through other methods before agreeing to this.
Well, the ballot measures failed and the city still had no plan to staff the new fire station. When this went to arbitration, cost was a large issue. To open a new station it would require nine additional firefighters. To increase the staffing on the current engine companies from three firefighters to four would only require hiring three firefighters. The arbitrator awarded this less expensive alternative to increase the safety of the firefighters. The arbitrator ruled that there would be eight firefighters on duty every day – not four firefighters on a fire engine.
Yes, the police officers were able to receive the 3 percent at 50 retirement benefit. Yes the firefighters would like the same. It is a benefit that is received by most public safety workers in the state. Gilroy is the last fire department in the county to be without this benefit.
Firefighters are starting their careers in their late 20s to early 30s. They will retire with 30 years of service between the ages of 55 and 60. When they retire they will collect from 60 to 90 percent of their final years’ wages. There is no cost of living increase. There is no medical coverage. They are too old to join another department. Firefighters have the highest on–the-job injury ratio. They have the third highest death rate for line-of-duty deaths. Firefighters have the shortest life expectancy after retiring. Most will not live long due to all the chemical and biological exposures they have seen throughout their careers.
Art Amaro, President
Mark Ordaz, Vice President
Jim Buessing, Secretary / Treasurer
Gilroy Fire Fighters Local 2805
Submitted Wednesday, July 16 to ed****@****ic.com
