Pawtucket Firefighters Union President and City’s Legal Counsel Spar Over Firings

Pawtucket Firefighters Union President and City’s Legal Counsel Spar Over Firings

The Pawtucket Firefighters Local No. 1261 is blasting Mayor Don Grebien’s administration for its action against a total of eight firefighters.

GoLocal was the first to report on an investigation into employees of the Pawtucket Fire Department.

The union had harsh words for the city of Pawtucket’s outside legal counsel, Vincent Ragosta.

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Erik Cordeiro, President of the union which is an affiliate of IAFF and the AFL-CIO, said, "The Union will vigorously defend the wrongfully terminated firefighters in the arbitration arena, we will most certainly present our case, unlike Mr. Ragosta, in the court of public opinion.”

 

READ THE UNION’S FULL STATEMENT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ARTICLE

 

 

Pawtucket's Lawyer Ragosta Fires Back at Union

In response, Ragosta fired back.

He wrote in a statement, “Union President Cordeiro’s self-serving and untruthful press release highlights the depth of his inexperience and ignorance of basic principles of labor law. He evidently does not comprehend the nature and parameters of a pre-deprivation hearing, as pronounced by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

“Astoundingly, [Cordeiro] did not read the pre-deprivation notices that were provided to each of his accused members, for in those notices it was plainly stated: 'Please be advised that this predeprivation hearing may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of your employment. At this informal hearing you shall be provided with an explanation of the evidence supporting the City’s contemplated termination of your employment, and you shall be provided with an opportunity to present your side of the story. [Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532,542; Cotnoir v. University of Maine Systems, et al, 35 F. 3d 6 (1994)],'"wrote Ragosta.

“Obviously, union boss Cordeiro did not listen or pay attention to what transpired at the four predeprivation hearings. As Loudermill requires, a thorough explanation of the evidence supporting the allegations of misconduct of each of the accused firefighters was given by Fire Chief John Trenteseaux. Director of Public Safety and Police Chief, Tina Goncalves attended the predeprivation hearings with [myself]," he continued. 

"At no point was any evidence 'withheld' by any city representative, especially [myself] who was very forthright in explaining to Cordeiro that the law only requires an explanation of the evidence supporting the contemplated firings, and not an exhaustive recitation and inventory of all the evidence justifying firing the deviant firefighters. Indeed, I patiently and politely educated Cordeiro that a Loudermill-pre-deprivation hearing is not a full-fledged evidentiary hearing where all formal evidence must be presented. Rather its purpose is to provide due process to employees before a termination decision is made, not to determine the facts definitively," Ragosta concluded.

First published 4/16/2025 6:04 PM

 

FIREFIGHTERS UNION PRESS RELEASE