City of
And
International Association Fire
Fighters, Local 453
Interest Arbitration
Arbitrator: Gary L. Axon
Date Issued:
Arbitrator:
Axon; Gary L.
Case #: 16058-I-01-374
Employer:
City of
Date Issued:
IN THE MATTER
OF )
INTEREST ARBITRATION ) PERC CASE 16058-I-01-374
)
BETWEEN )
ARBITRATOR'S OPINION
)
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION ) AND AWARD OF FIREFIGHTERS, LOCAL 453, )
) 2001 - 2003
) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
and )
) AGREEMENT
CITY OF WENATCHEE, WASHINGTON, )
)
City )
HEARING SITE: City
Hall
HEARING DATES: June
12 & 13, 2002
POST-HEARING BRIEFS DUE: Postmarked
RECORD CLOSED ON RECEIPT OF
BRIEFS: August 2, 2002
REPRESENTING THE
Emal Skalbania & Vinnedge
REPRESENTING THE CITY: Bruce
L. Schroeder
Summit Law Group PLLC
INTEREST ARBITRATOR: Gary
L. Axon
(541) 488-1573
Table of Contents
ISSUE
Page
Introduction
................................................................................................................................
1
1. Hours of
Work ...................................................................................................
7
2. Kelly/Debit
Days
.............................................................................................
22
3. Wages
.............................................................................................................
23
4. Industrial
Insurance
.........................................................................................
38
5. Overtime
Pay and Compensatory Time ......................................................
44
6. Vacations
........................................................................................................
45
7. Shift
Changes
.................................................................................................
47
8. Buy-Out
for Loss of Promotional Opportunities
.......................................... 53
9. Entire
Agreement
...........................................................................................
56
10. Safety ..............................................................................................................
60
I. INTRODUCTION
The International Association of Firefighters, Local 453
(
signatories to a Collective
Bargaining Agreement effective January
1, 1998 for a minimum period
of three years or until such time as
a successor agreement can be
negotiated. The 1998-2000 agreement
continued in effect during the
negotiations for a successor
agreement. The parties were
unable to resolve all of the issues in
dispute through negotiation
and mediation.
In a letter dated
Executive Director, Public
Employment Relations Commission,
certified for interest
arbitration as provided in RCW 41.56.450 ten
issues as follows:
1. Hours
of Work - Article VI, Sections 6.1
and related articles of agreement related to
four-platoon staffing system
2. Kelly
or Debit Days - Article VI and
related articles of agreement related to
debit
days, total yearly hours of work
3. Wages
for 2001, 2002, 2003 - Article 10
4. Industrial
Insurance - Article 25
5. Overtime
Pay and Compensatory Time - Article 15
6. Vacation
provisions - Article 12
7. Shift
Changes - Article 17
8. Buy-Out
for Loss of Promotional
Opportunities
9. Entire
Agreement language (Article 31)
10. Safety
provisions - new Article proposed
as Article 30
Un.
Ex. 3.
The case was scheduled for
hearing before this Arbitrator for a
final and binding resolution.
Prior to the arbitration hearing, several
issues arose
regarding the status of
certain proposals to be presented to the
Arbitrator for a decision. The
legal disagreements continued to
the date of the arbitration.
To the credit of counsel, the parties
were able to work out a
resolution of the disagreements so the case
could proceed to hearing.
The City of
City has a population of
27,930.
central
aluminum smelter. For 2001,
the assessed valuation of the City was
$1,314,504,217. In 2001, the
City had general fund revenues of
$13,694,900.
Thirty bargaining unit members working out of
two
stations provide fire and
rescue services to the citizens of
oversee the operation of the
Fire Department. Fire and rescue
services are delivered by what
is referred to as a four-platoon
system, each headed by a
battalion chief. Three of the issues
before this Arbitrator are
directly related to a City proposal to
move from a four-platoon
system to a three-platoon system.
At the commencement of the arbitration
hearing, the
opening statements from
counsel revealed a sharp difference of
opinion over the issue of a
four-platoon versus a three-platoon
system. A significant amount
of hearing time was devoted to the
presentation of the evidence
and argument on the issues relating to
the four-platoon versus
three-platoon dispute. The Union
characterized the conflict
over the platoon system as the
overriding issue in this
contract dispute.
A dispute also arose over the cornparables to be used as
a guide for the Arbitrator in
formulating the Award on the ten
issues. Article 10.4 of the
1998-2000 contract specifies ten
Washington cities which
"shall be used as the basis for
comparison." The
enumerated cities are as follows:
Aberdeen Mount Vernon
Auburn Olympia
Kennewick Pullman
Longview Richland
Mountlake Terrace Walla Walla
In addition, the parties also
disagreed over the methodology and
means by which to compare
wages and contract benefits of Wenatchee
firefighters with their
counterparts in other cities.
The City proposed to delete Article 10.4 from
the
contract. According to the
City, the ten Washington cities no
longer are a representative
group of comparators to be used by
Wenatchee. The Union
challenged the City on its attempt to modify
the list of comparators. In
order to continue with the arbitration
hearing, the City stipulated
to the use of the ten jurisdictions
specified in Article 10.4.
However, the City did not stipulate to
the weight to be accorded to
each of the ten cities on the list.
Pursuant to the stipulation of
the parties and Article 10.4, the
Arbitrator will utilize the
ten listed cities as a guide to
developing this Award.
The hearing in this case required two days
for each side
to present their evidence and
testimony. The hearing was tape
recorded and copies of the
tapes were made available to the Union
and the Arbitrator by the
City. Testimony of witnesses was
received under oath. At the
hearing, the parties were given the
full opportunity to present
written evidence, oral testimony, and
argument regarding the issues
in dispute. Both the Union and the
City provided the Arbitrator
with substantial written documentation
in support of their respective
positions on the ten issues.
Moreover, the parties also submitted comprehensive and
detailed post-hearing briefs
in further support of their positions
taken at arbitration. The
approach of the Arbitrator in writing
the Award will be to summarize
the major, most persuasive evidence,
and arguments presented by the
parties on the ten issues. After
the introduction of the issue
and the positions of the parties, I
will state the basic findings
and rationale which caused your
Arbitrator to make an award on
the issues.
This Arbitrator has carefully reviewed and evaluated all
of the evidence and arguments
submitted pursuant to the criteria
established by RCW 41.56.465.
Since the record in this case is so
comprehensive, it would be
impractical for the Arbitrator in the
discussion and Award to
restate and refer to each and every piece
of evidence, testimony, and
argument presented. However, when
4.formulating this Award, the
Arbitrator did give careful
consideration to all of the
evidence and argument placed into the
record by the parties.
The statutory criteria are set out in RCW
41.56.465, as
follows :
(1) In making its determination, the panel
shall be mindful of the
legislative purpose
enumerated in RCW 41.56.430
and, as additional
standards or guidelines to aid
it in reaching
a decision, it shall take into
consideration
the following factors:
(a) The constitutional and statutory
authority of the employer;
(b) Stipulations of the parties;
(c) (i) For employees listed in RCW
41.56.030 (7 ) (a) through (d)
; comparison
of the wages, hours, and
conditions of
employment of personnel involved
in the
proceedings with the wages,
hours, and
conditions of employment of
like
personnel of like employers of
similar
size on the west coast of the
United
States;
(ii) For employees
listed in RCW
41.56.030(7) (e) through (h),
comparison
of the wages, hours, and
conditions of
employment of personnel
involved in the
proceedings with the wages,
hours, and
conditions of employment of
like
personnel of public fire
departments of
similar size on the west coast
of the
United States. However, when
an adequate
number of comparable employers
exists
within the state of
Washington, other
west coast employers may not
be
considered;
(d) The average consumer prices for
goods and services, commonly
known as the
cost of living;
(e) Changes
in any of the circumstances
under (a) through (d) of this
subsection
during the pendency
of the proceedings;
and
(f) Such other factors, not confined to
the factors under (a) through
(e) of this
subsection, that are normally
or
traditionally taken into
consideration in
the determination of wages,
hours, and
conditions of employment. For
those
employees listed in RCW
41.56.030(7) (a)
who are employed by the
governing body of
a city or town with a
population of less
than fifteen thousand, or a
county with a
population of less than
seventy thousand,
consideration must also be
given to
regional differences in the
cost of
living.
Because of the voluminous record and
extensive arguments
in this case, the parties
waived the thirty (30) day period an
arbitrator would normally have
to publish an interest arbitration
award under the statute.
ISSUE 1 - HOURS OF WORK
A. Background
Article 6 of the current contract defines the
hours of
work for members of this
bargaining unit. The dispute over hours
of work directly involves two
other related topics found in Issues
2 and 8. The parties'
proposals and arguments are intertwined
among the three issues
concerning the subject of the four-platoon
versus three-platoon system.
In reviewing the three issues, the
Arbitrator evaluated the
evidence and argument as a whole in
formulating the Award. While
your Arbitrator will make a separate
award on each issue, the
discussion and findings equally applies to
Issues 1, 2, and 8.
The Department currently operates on a
four-platoon
system for scheduling and
other purposes. Each platoon consists of
seven bargaining unit members.
The composition of a platoon is one
battalion chief, two captains,
two engineers, and two firefighters.
A platoon member works 24
hours on, 48 hours off, 24 hours on, and
96 hours off. In addition, a
platoon member also work 12 extra
24-hour shifts throughout the
calendar year. The extra shifts are
called "Debit Days."
The Debit Days ensure each member is assigned
a workweek that averages 48
hours throughout the year.
The four-platoon system became a part of the
agreement
with the 1991-1992 Collective
Bargaining Agreement and has remained
in effect until this date.
Prior to the 1991-1992 contract, the
parties operated under a
three-platoon system. The City offered
proposals in Issues 1, 2, and
8 which would return the Wenatchee
Fire Department to a
three-platoon system effective January 1,
2003. The Union seeks to
preserve the status quo of the four-
platoon system under Article 6
and advanced several proposals to
preserve and strengthen the
four-platoon system.
B. The
City
The City believes it has offered numerous
legitimate
reasons for conversion back to
a three-platoon system. According
to the City, the three-platoon
system will offer a number of
operational and financial
advantages to the City and to the public.
Those benefits include safety
enhancement to firefighters,
increased productivity and
training, increased team-building within
the Fire Department, financial
savings, and better overall
management of the Department.
City Ex. 1.7. The City submits all
of these benefits were
ultimately done with a vision of carrying
out the City of Wenatchee's
Fire Department Mission Statement.
City Ex. A. The City maintains
the Union's defense to the proposal
ignored all components of the
Mission Statement and focused almost
exclusively on the
firefighters' desires for more contiguous days
off.
The City's arguments are summarized in the
following
section:
1. The City's three-platoon system would
enhance firefighter safety
because the
staffing levels would increase
from seven
individuals on any given
platoon to ten
bargaining unit members on a
platoon at any
given time. The platoon would
be composed of
one battalion chief, two
captains, two
engineer/firefighters, and
five firefighters.
The Union offered no evidence
countering this
enhanced safety benefit.
2. A
primary benefit of the three-platoon
system involves training
productivity.
Training classes must be
scheduled four
separate times in order to reach
all four
platoons. Offering of the
training on four
separate occasions increases
the cost to
provide training to personnel
working at an
overtime rate. In addition, a
firefighter who
works a Debit Day with a
different platoon
during which training is held,
that
firefighter may also receive
the same training
on his normal schedule which
means the person