Gloucester City Firemen "A Hot Topic"
Saturday, December 18, 2010
By Bill Cleary
The final day of employment for the eight Gloucester City firemen is December 22. In the meantime the topic continues to be discussed on the Internet both on ClearysNoteBook and Facebook. Following the recent Atlantic Street fire several people posted comments on Facebook that gave the impression that some local firemen and their supporters were upset because volunteers from other communities responded to the December 15 two- alarm fire in Gloucester City.
*For example,
GCFF wrote: Brotherhood?!?!? Not in Camden County! Thanks for your support. GCFF : Thinkin the same thing. GCFF: My heart goes out to ya brothers, it’s a (expletive) disgrace. GCFF: (Expletive) just don’t get it brother, I can’t say I am surprised. GCFF: All of you PBA and IAFF scabs and clueless vols throughout Camden County who continue to use my home as your (expletive) playground when 1/3 of my company is getting shitcanned in less that week seem to need a refresher. The old, “Oh, but we thought...” does not work here. It’s obvious we can only count on certain people. GCFF: (expletive) assholes, its a shame to do it, but let Camden handle there own shit by themselves. Maybe, just maybe the (expletive) government and admins for the FD will realize they need the very people they gave pink slips to.
(see Your Comments on Facebook are not private)
Jeffrey Sanderson, president Gloucester City Professional Firefighters Union FMBA
He was also asked about a comment by ex fireman Mike Walters who wrote, “15 paid fire fighters were attending union meeting at Fire House when call came in, but were unable to respond do to the Mayor’s decision to stop recall due to overtime”.
“ As far as the facebook comments, I can not control how people feel. I have stated before in one of my meetings that social websites aren't the place to state our case. I believe that the comments have been removed. Guys are upset about losing their jobs and emotions are running high. The individuals losing their jobs truly care about this City. We pride ourselves with professionalism and it always seems we are getting the short end of the stick. We are tired of the old cliche that all we do is sleep. The City of Gloucester City's Solicitor has stated that "They're probably sleeping if they are not on a call". If anyone wants to know what we do on a daily basis all they have to do is stop by Fire Headquarters any time of day or night and they can see first hand what we do. If you compare Gloucester City to any other Fire Department in the County you will see that we have the busiest single Engine company out there. Again I will say that people have a lot to say about the Fire Department but don't have the intestinal fortitude to put their name. I stand behind anything that I say.
“Some Fire Departments have made the decision or talked about not coming to help Gloucester City because they don't want to send their FF's into a town that is jeopardizing the safety of their own employee's. Other towns don't want to become the City of Gloucester City's Fire Department. I guess people forget that two other individuals, Jim Sylvester and John West, not from Gloucester City gave the Ultimate Sacrifice on July 4th, 2002.
“ We do use 1 North King st. as our Union Hall. As far as I can remember it has always been that way. I was conducting a Union meeting the night of the Atlantic St. fire and yes we would have been able to respond with another piece of apparatus but because of a Directive out from the City that stated there will be no more overtime we were unable to go and help. Due to the Garcia Act we are not allowed to volunteer in the town in which we are employed so we have to be paid and because the City of Gloucester City doesn't want to pay us we can't respond off duty. The City of Gloucester City is making the decision on how they want the City of Gloucester City to be protected from fires not the Union's.”
Also asked to comment about what Mr. Walters wrote was City Solicitor John Kearney.
He writes, “As to Mr. Walters statement I have no idea if it is correct but the Mayor has certainly directed no more overtime. This comes after years of what can only be described as out of line OT use. This became one of those automatics when in fact it should be rare. This Mayor has gotten OT under control and the intent is to eliminate it completely. The taxpayers cannot afford it.
“The other observation to be taken from Mr. Walters statement is that the system worked using mutual aid and there was no need for OT. One could point out how utterly disturbing it is that some professional firefighters would sit on their hands watching a fire while obeying the command of their union bosses to do nothing that would be considered helpful to the community. That, unfortunately, appears to be the world we now live in.”
On Friday Mayor James and City Council released the following statement.
“Refusal of union leaders to revise their position on onerous, expensive work rules have left Gloucester City with no choice but to issue layoff notices to eight fire-fighters, effective December 23.
“Mayor William James and the six member Council reluctantly approved the layoffs after having offered a no-layoff commitment to the fire-fighters union. The offer was based on the city administration having the prerogative to manage work schedules for the 31 full-time paid fire fighters.
“A tentative agreement reached earlier this year provides for zero salary increases and other concessions on fringe benefits. But the union’s insistence on the minimal staffing work rules would wipe out projected savings that would have enabled the administration to avoid layoffs.
“Mayor James said the layoffs and a no-overtime directive to Chief Brian Hagan would not diminish the city’s ability to cope with a fire or any other emergency. He said the administration has plans in place to cope with any emergency that may arise.”
*Firemen request to have their names/comments removed from article
video Gloucester City Firemen Protest Layoffs
