4th District Report
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| Randy Sekany |
San Carlos Reopens This Fall as Hybrid Fire Department
The Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department will be shutting down this fall, and San Carlos Fire Department will reopen as a hybrid fire agency. The department will share Redwood City Fire Department's fire chief and administration staff.
The move is expected to save the city of San Carlos $1.5 million a year.
At the time of this publication, San Carlos was hiring 17-21 firefighter, firefighter-paramedic and captain positions to staff the new department. But Local 2400 President Ed Hawkins noted that the recruitment process has begun but they haven't first offered positions to the current employees of Belmont-San Carlos, which they are legally obligated to do.
"People are hungry for work so they are getting candidates. My concern is that they aren't giving jobs to our members who are currently working for them," said Hawkins.
In addition, Hawkins said that the new department offers no vacation or overtime pay to staff, in addition to providing a 2% at 50 retirement formula.
Alameda County Defends Contract Against Wackenhut Threat
Now that the Alameda County Fire Department's five-year contract with Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) is up, Wackenhut Corp. is making a play to take over the fire protection contract.
It is the first time that a for-profit company will bid for the contract, which represents three companies and 40 positions. Alameda County has provided fire protection services with LLNL since 2007.
Alameda County Firefighters Local 55 is ready for battle. Their battle plan has included drafting talking points, assembling a strong group of labor and management leaders in support of Alameda County and gathering letters of support from groups including the IAFF, CPF, IAFC, CAL FIRE Chiefs, Alameda County Central Labor Council, Senators Feinstein and Boxer, Congressmen McNerney and Garamendi, and State Senator Corbett. They have also conducted research and located supporting documents highlighting Wackenhut's mismanagement.
Since 2007, Alameda County Fire Department has met the safety standards and security clearances, improved their training and response times for LLNL.
"We have done the legwork and spent a lot of time on this, but it's also been an opportunity for labor and management to work together. We're together in this fight," said Local 55 President John Torres.
The final decision will be made by the UC Board of Regents in September.
Spotlight on Windsor Firefighters Local 4407
Sometimes being small has its advantages.
Twelve-member Windsor Firefighters Local 4407 has flown under the radar and weathered the latest economic storm relatively unscathed.
"We've had a very conservative fire chief for the past 42 years, who built up a lot of reserves," said Local 4407 President Mike Elson. The Windsor Fire Protection District staffs two fire stations, responds to 2,200 calls each year and serves roughly 33,000 residents in the town of Windsor.
From 2007 until now, members have seen no pay raises and contracts have been flat. On the other hand, they haven't had to contribute to PERS and they haven't seen layoffs or brownouts, or reductions in salary or benefits, like other neighboring departments have experienced.
Elson said relations between labor and management have greatly improved in the past three years and that the board of directors has been extremely transparent with the local, particularly in matters of budgeting.
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| Windsor firefighters on the job. This small Northern California local has fared better during the economic downturn than many of its neighboring locals. |
In 2010-2011, Windsor Fire Protection District was forced to go into their deficit spending and it is anticipated that they will need to dip into their reserves again in 2011-2012.
"The reserve account continues to dwindle to balance the budget and until we see a strong economic recovery, that is what we'll be faced with. But right now, at least we are on a one- to two-year delay from what everyone else is experiencing," said Elson.