Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Firefighters union, finally, signs contract

AFD Central Station

After more than a year of working without a contract the Amherst Firefighters Local 1764 settled with the town garnering 1% salary increase (retroactive) for last year and January 1, 2012 a 2% salary increase and July 1, 2012 another 2% salary increase. BUT, no increase in staffing!

Currently Amherst is covered 24/7 with a minimum staffing level of 7, half that of our comparable sister city Northampton, which has 14.

The teachers union recently inked a two year contract with a 1.5% pay increase while non union school employees (bus drivers, janitors, secretaries, etc) settled for 0%; and on the town side non union employees (department heads) received 2% and the Town Manager a whopping 10%. SEIU 888 with about 70 municipal members is also being offered 0% but will go into mediation for a contract resolution.

AFD Chief Tim Nelson Firefighter Union President Stephen Gaughan

Town Website breaks the news
Press release from Firefighters Union (note extra paragraph the town nixed on their post...hmmm)
3:45 PM UPDATE: So apparently between noon when I published this and late this afternoon, the town corrected their posting on the website to include the extra paragraph that had been inadvertently left off.
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 16, 2011 at 1:48 PM

    Understaffed, overworked and now having a longer shift? Seems like they should have added to the minimum on duty before agreeing to that.

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  2. AnonymousNovember 16, 2011 at 6:24 PM

    24hr shifts are not good in a town where the ambulance goes non stop. I'm not sure the level of care would be the same in hour 23 as hour 2 or 3....

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  3. AnonymousNovember 17, 2011 at 10:56 PM

    ^Maybe thats the reason.. to justify more manpower to lessen burnout...

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  4. AnonymousNovember 18, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    The teacher union has not inked any contract. Anyone who tells you that is flat out lying. Ask any teacher.


    Go ask the supt how she and her friends cooked this contract about 8 months too long.

    They are wringing their hands trying to figure out how they can fix the contract that they have so badly screwed up for the town.

    Good luck.

    And Kelley, you are missing a major story on that front.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Larry KelleyNovember 18, 2011 at 3:05 PM

    Yeah, I made the mistake of relying on a Front Page Gazette article. Silly me.

    ReplyDelete