Committee votes on firefighter OT bills scheduled for Thursday

PROVIDENCE – A vote on proposed legislation that would change the firefighter overtime law is expected to come before the House and Senate labor committees on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns and the office of Lt. Governor Daniel J. McKee conducted a press conference on the legislation, S-961 and H-6278.

They say the legislation could potentially cost cities and towns millions of dollars in overtime expenses at a time when they are seeking to contain “unsustainable fire protection costs” and are urging the General Assembly to defeat it.

At the press conference, McKee and municipal leaders said the bills “represent dangerous legislative intervention in municipal affairs that would alter the rights of cities and towns in their negotiations with public safety personnel.”

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The bills would force overtime if a modified firefighter schedule were adopted, officials say.

Sponsored by state Sen. Frank Lombardi, D-Cranston, and state Rep. John G. Edwards, D-Tiverton, S-961 and H-6278 would change the workweek to no longer than 42 hours for firefighters and rescue personnel.

Fifteen municipalities were represented at the press conference, including Providence, Warwick, Tiverton and Barrington, according to the lieutenant governor’s office. Providence is in the midst of implementing a platoon change from four to three.

“This legislation would impose an immeasurable cost on all Rhode Island cities and towns and, most assuredly, drive up local property taxes in many of our communities,” Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns President T. Joseph Almond, also Lincoln town administrator, said in a statement.

McKee said municipal leaders are not seeking to ask firefighters to work more hours for little or no additional pay.

“Municipal leaders stand ready and willing to negotiate fair compensation,” McKee said. “Passing this bill would be costly – and counterproductive – at a time when we’re all supposed to be working toward a common and urgent goal: getting the Rhode Island economy moving again.”

According to a news release from Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza’s office, resources would be diverted to pay for firefighter overtime, and Rhode Islanders cannot afford “this massive overtime giveaway to the firefighters union” if the legislation is approved. The release said that in Providence alone, the bill is expected to add up to $1.5 million in overtime costs to the existing approximately $9 million average overtime budget.
Raising taxes, forcing layoffs and cutting services are some of the scenarios that could happen to fund the “overtime giveaway,” the release states.
It also states that firefighter overtime already costs the city approximately $24,000 a day, more than the $17,000 per pupil yearly cost to educate a child in the city’s school system.
The proposed legislation pays firefighters for an additional six hours of overtime for their four-day, 12 hour per shift workweek – even if they take a vacation day or call in sick, according to the release.

And, it states that the bill would undo the work of the state-appointed receiver in the Central Coventry Fire District. That district has gone to a three platoon structure and a 56-hour work week to reduce costs.
The release notes that Elorza and the Providence Firefighters Union Local 799 are engaged in collective bargaining to negotiate the effects of the change to three platoons of 132 firefighters from four platoons of 99 firefighters. The implementation has been delayed to negotiate shift hours and compensation. Elorza’s office said the change is expected to save $5 million a year through substantially reduced overtime. It also would essentially remove the need for callback to meet the department’s minimum manning requirement of 94 firefighters per shift.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Each firefighter’s weekly salary should be based on their years of service and their rank. To earn this salary, each firefighter should be required to spend a set amount of hours each week actually fighting fires. Overtime pay would be determined based on the additional number of hours that they spent fighting fires each week.