Fire Rescue News- Atlantic City firefighter contract freezes salaries for two years

Posted: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 9:44 pm | Updated: 6:26 am, Wed Jul 18, 2012.

By EMILY PREVITI, Staff WriterpressofAtlanticCity.com

not at all during 2013 and 2014, compared with 4 percent previously, according to information on the binding arbitration released Tuesday to The Press of Atlantic City.

Since the last contract was negotiated, state law changed to limit public worker salary increases to 2 percent annually and 6 percent overall. Staying within that cap prevented going with the original offer from Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 198, according to the decision by Public Employee Relations Commission arbitrator Michael Pecklers.

“It’s a mathematical formula under the statute,” said Mark Belland, the lawyer who represented the union. “(Pecklers) was essentially handcuffed as to what he can do. But we view the result as positive given the city not only wanted a three-year wage freeze, but also to freeze longevity and education (stipends), change sick leave, change leave worker’s compensation — none of which they got. Every other benefit is maintained in the contract.”

The firefighters union offered 2 percent raises during 2013 and 2014, but wanted to keep 4 percent raises for this year because that would keep firefighters on par with police. Municipal officials meanwhile sought wages freezes for all three years of the agreement, citing a multimillion-dollar ratable base drop, documents show.

Adrienne Eaton, who heads Rutgers University’s labor and employment relations department, expects officials in other New Jersey towns will try to use the salary increase awards in the Atlantic City case as precedent in an attempt to save money because it concluded with “shockingly low pay increases over three years.”

That does not make it proper, Eaton said.

“Yes, other arbitrators will look at it, but they also will look at the ability of the local city to pay. That’s one of the central points of the new law — to pay more attention to particular financial circumstances of the community that they’re working on,” Eaton said.

Most New Jersey towns are not facing as “extraordinarily bad” financial conditions as those present in Atlantic City, Eaton said.

Those conditions are, at least in part, the result of casino tax-appeal settlements that so far have racked up $186 million in overpayment refunds due gambling companies, whose property values meanwhile dropped $5 billion cumulatively since 2010. The effects are a 20 percent drop in the ratable base and anticipated tax burden shift to noncasino property owners.

But the city’s remaining borrowing power, surplus and other financial characteristics convinced Pecklers that the municipal government’s situation is not bad enough to warrant freezing the firefighters’ pay for three years, his decision says.

Regardless of its application outside Atlantic City, the recent arbitration result very likely will influence pending police contract negotiations.

PBA President Paul Barbere said Tuesday he has not seen the decision, but that it will likely affect police contract negotiations expected to start in September.

“We were waiting for this award to come out,” Barbere said. “While there are differences between the two unions, there are a lot of similarities. This will give us a good barometer of exactly what to expect.”

The two years of no raises were “a big concern with everyone that I’ve talked to today,” he said of police union members who reached out.

The previous firefighters union contract expired at the end of 2011. After one mediation session this year, the union asked for arbitration hearings that started June 13, city labor attorney Steven Glickman said.

Those sessions wrapped July 9, and by the end of last week arbitrators had reached their decision. They did not forward it to city and union officials until Monday, documents show.

Union President Angelo DeMaio, a captain hired 20 years ago, was unavailable for comment Tuesday. Vice President Chris Emmell deferred comment until after talking to Belland and Jeffrey Caccese, another attorney for the firefighters.

Fire Chief Dennis Brooks said the decision split about 50-50, with the union winning out on points such as overtime and medical benefits.

“As far as the performance of the Fire Department, it shouldn’t effect our duties,” he said. “We’ll manage the department the best way we can with what we got.”

Staff writerr Lynda Cohen contributed to this report.

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