Moore: Is Platoon Reduction a Ploy to Elminate Firefighters?

Moore: Is Platoon Reduction a Ploy to Elminate Firefighters?

Paul Valletta, the lobbyist for the Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters, believes the North Kingstown platoon shift reduction is a thinly veiled mechanism to eliminate firefighters, which will eventually spread across the state, he said during an interview with Golocal earlier this week.

The Town of North Kingstown unilaterally switched from a 4 platoon system to a 3 platoon system, much to the dismay of the town's firefighter's union, in an attempt to save taxpayer's money. The decision was contested by the local firefighter's union, made its way through the court system, and the town eventually prevailed thanks to a RI Supreme Court ruling in its favor earlier this year. The reduction in platoons requires firefighters to work 56 hours per week as opposed to 40.

North Kingstown officials believe that the reform will save taxpayers somewhere between $1.7 and $2 million per year. 

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Last week, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza unveiled a similar plan that he believes will save Providence roughly $5 million per year.

Meanwhile, the Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters are promoting a bill in the legislature that would effectively make the North Kingstown Supreme Court Decision null and void.

Valletta, the organization's lobbyist, is leading the fight. The bill appears to have momentum in the House of Representatives, but last week a group of several mayors and town managers came out in opposition to the legislation, saying the bill gives them the ability to control costs.

A Trojan Horse?

Valletta, who doubles as the President of the Cranston Firefighters Union, argued that the only way for the municipalities to save the amount of money they're talking about is either by refusing to pay firefighters more for their increased hours of work, or laying off scores of firefighters.

"I think we'll end up seeing whole platoons of firefighters laid off across Rhode Island," said Valletta. "They're using the 24-hour shift as a way to make this happen."

Valletta called it a deceptive approach to reduce the number of firefighters in the state. If the mayors and town managers in Rhode Island who support the maneuver were to come out and say that they're aim is layoff firefighters, public outcry would defeat the measure, Valletta said. 

Therefore, the switch to the 3 platoon system is a mechanism to facilitate the massive reduction in the workforce, Valletta said. 

"All I'm saying to them is be honest with what your final plan is," Valletta said. "Maybe people will say 'I want less firefighters in my town'...but I doubt it."

Valletta points to the fact that the town of North Kingstown didn't achieve anywhere close to the budget savings it had projected in its first few years implementing the shift as evidence to support his argument. 

Did North Kingstown Savings Fall Short?

The town of North Kingstown actually spent $8,339,699 on firefighting costs in 2012. The budgeted amount for the 2015 fiscal year is $7,902,207--about $430,000, a far cry from $1.7 million amount that has been bandied about.

North Kingstown Town Manager Michael Embury, who spearheaded the North Kingstown reform, vehemently denies that he had any plans whatsoever to layoff firefighters. But Embury said that the town will save money on benefit costs over the long run because the town plans to eliminate firefighters by attrition. In other words, when a firefighter retires, the town won't need to rehire another firefighter to replace them due to the shift realignment.

Embury said that the crux of the argument for the shift realignment plan is the fact that the town believes that firefighters are salaried employees, not hourly workers. While the contract does layout an hourly wage for the purposes of hourly pay and sick time, etc., the town believes the language in the contract is clear that its firefighters are still salaried employees he said. Therefore, the town believes it can force firefighters to work longer shifts, without paying more. Were that not the case, Embury said the reform would be cost prohibitive.

The reason that North Kingstown didn't obtain the savings it had hoped for in the first few years of implementation, he said, was due to the fact that those years saw firefighters with large amounts of unused sick time and vacation time retire, which required large payouts.

Elorza Suspends Plan

As for Providence, there is absolutely no plan for a forced workforce reduction in Providence, according to Elorza spokesman Evan England. Instead, the idea behind the plan is to reduce the "callback" spending in the firefighter budget.

Callbacks refer to the fact that every single shift has to have a certain amount of firefighters scheduled. When that number falls short, firefighters from the current shift must be called back, or in some cases continue working until that number is achieved.  

England said that the City of Providence has spent anywhere from $7.5 million to $11.9 million per year in callbacks. There were 756 shifts from May of 2014 until May of this year. Only 6 of those shifts didn't require callbacks. 

The move from 4 to 3 platoons will significantly reduce the number of callbacks required, according to England.

That being said, England pointed out that the Elorza plan to reduce the number of platoons from 4 to 3 has been tabled for now, in order to give the administration a chance to bargain with the union. Elorza prefers a deal that achieves similar savings be achieved through negotiations, England said.

Russell Moore has worked on both sides of the desk in Rhode Island media, both for newspapers and on political campaigns. Send him email [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @russmoore713.