Just in time for the start of budget talks.
Mayor John Whitmire
A proposed settlement between Mayor John Whitmire and the city’s firefighters union could result in major changes to the Houston Fire Department beyond the deal’s $1.5 billion cost.
Under the terms of the deal released Monday, the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association would be allowed to pick half of the civil service commissioners who often serve as the final word on discipline. The deal also would boost incentive pay for paramedics, prohibit random drug testing and set up a new labor-management committee designed to address health issues.
Many of the changes were included in a draft version of the agreement that has been circulating in political circles for weeks, but City Council members received formal confirmation when the Whitmire administration shared the final version less than 48 hours before a vote set for Wednesday.
The final version of the five-year contract drops a controversial provision requiring the mayor to pick the fire chief from within department ranks, but City Council members at a Tuesday hearing said they still had concerns about the agreement’s details and cost.
[…]
The 123-page collective bargaining agreement was signed and released to council members Monday. [Firefighters union President Marty] Lancton said it hews closely to a previous contract that expired in 2017.
There are some significant changes, however, one of the most prominent being to civil service rules.
The city’s existing Civil Service Commission includes three members and three alternates who step in when regular members are absent. Under the new collective bargaining agreement, the union and mayor will each pick half of the commission’s members.
The agreement also states that “All terminations and demotions must achieve a unanimous vote by the commissioners present if placed before the civil service commission.”
That provision effectively gives the union nominees veto power over major discipline, according to a plaintiff’s attorney who has represented firefighters suing the city in the past.
“To me it’s just bizarre. They’re just basically putting their thumb on the scale,” said lawyer Joe Ahmad. “It would be hard to imagine many situations where they would allow discipline and terminations to go forward.”
Ahmad represented a female firefighter who sued the city over severe sexual harassment from her colleagues at one of the city’s fire stations more than a decade ago, eventually resulting in a $275,000 settlement. He predicted the civil service rule change could lead to more settlements.
“Ultimately, it’s the city that gets held responsible for failure to discipline for things like harassment and discrimination,” he said. “It’s going to lead to bad behavior, because it’s a feeling of immunity.”
Lancton said critiques of the civil service changes are overblown. As it stands now, firefighters typically appeal terminations through a separate arbitration process rather than the commission, he said. Giving union appointees half of the commission seats is designed to correct an “anti-labor” bias under former Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration, he said.
“It’s meant for labor to have a voice, and ensuring that you don’t have a stacked deck of anti-labor people,” he said.
The fire union contract could set a precedent for the Houston Police Officers’ Union negotiations set to begin next year. HPOU President Doug Griffith said the inclusion of fire union appointees likely would force the city to split its combined civil service commission, which currently hears matters from both departments.
Griffith said the unanimity requirement struck him as “kind of crazy … All it takes is one person to go in there every time and say ‘nope, nope.’”
See here for the previous update. I’m glad that the provision about requiring the fire chief to come from the department is gone, it was a bad idea and it seemed needlessly targeted at the current Chief. As for the provision about requiring unanimous votes by the civil service commission, the characterization of it as “kind of crazy” by the president of the police officer’s union is more eloquent than anything I could add. We’ll see what Council makes of it next week, after it was tagged on yesterday’s agenda. The Chron has more.
Don’t forget, in the midst of lawsuits and lip service from Turner, he wanted ‘Chief’ Pena to fire the HPFFA President, the elected representation of the Fire Department personnel. So, having a say in the matter on the Civil Service Commission board makers sense in the light of what a city Mayor could do. He had to fight to get his job back and he recieved the back pay for it at the time. His firing was an unwise move on the mayor, and facilitated through a puppet of a fire chief.
I support the provision of the fire chief being hired within the ranks of HFD. There are plenty of qualified people and it is more efficient when they are already familiar with the department, and they have more of a long term plan with Houston rather than being a shadow for a mayor, then leaving fur elsewhere.
Re: “The deal also would boost incentive pay for paramedics, prohibit random drug testing and set up a new labor-management committee designed to address health issues.”
Prohibiting random drug testing is a non-starter for me… Just as I need the driver of a 10-ton pumper truck driving through the local Kroger parking lot while waiting on his co-workers to finish up their grocery shopping to be ‘clean’, I need the HFD paramedic driving a high-speed ambulance to the Med Center to be laser focused as well…. if that requires peeing in a cup once a week, once a month, or once a year, so be it.
When the police union has the following, one has to assume something terribly wrong with part of the settlement.
Griffith said the unanimity requirement struck him as “kind of crazy … All it takes is one person to go in there every time and say ‘nope, nope.”
You can go thank Sylvester Turner. I asked him what he thinks about all this and he said that it is not his problem.
There’s a world of difference between having a say and having absolute veto power. Blaming a previous mayor who had no input in this 123 page agreement is nonsense too. While I disagree with the drug testing provision, that can be balanced by a policy requiring anyone involved in an accident, hurt on the job, or causing someone else to be hurt to have to take such a test.
As for who gets appointed Fire Chief after Fire Chief Pena leaves, and he doesn’t appear anxious to run out the door as suggested, with so much internal politics, family members, and all the rest that comes from promoting from within, outside hires make sense. Existing employees may know the job and what it takes but the likelihood they can navigate the rest given their history is questionable.
Doesn’t this contract or the changes to civil service rules need legislative approval? If so, maybe they can make the needed changes to remove the provisions being discussed.
“Blaming a previous mayor who had no input in this 123 page agreement is nonsense too.” No. I think it’s a reflection of his active non-action policy. The only thing he did was hire lawyers to extend the lawsuits to ignore the problems, so he has a direct influence on this 123 page agreement. A lot of items in the agreement are just trying to get items reinstated the way it was before Turner. If people don’t want to listen to FF’s when there is a glaring problem, the only way to change those problems is through this negotiation. The loss of personnel is a direct result. While this fire ‘Chief’ says he needs more transport units, there wouldn’t be the personnel to man those units. Browning out units to sit idle in the station because of a lack of personnel is the way this ‘Chief’ manages the lack of personnel. I can guarantee every fire fighter in HFD is beyond their limits when it comes to the previous 8 years. Without them, you have no fire department, and not a lot of them stand behind Pena because they don’t feel he stands behind them, that is not effective leadership. Call it something else, but it is not effective leadership.
In city council, Marty Lancton stated that other forms of drug testing are still included, like accidents and other reasons, INCLUDING at the request of a supervisor. So, drug testing is not gone, only random drug testing, which requires multiple personnel to achieve. When one person goes to test, an overtime person is held in their spot for approx 4 hours, so you’re paying 2 people at the same time.
Mayor Turner is gone. It’s time to move forward. People listened to FF’s and supported them to the point where our new mayor is giving them almost everything demanded. So any hurt feelings voters didn’t riot at city council should be put in the past. How that will impact every other city department for years to come may also be of interest to voters.
Manpower for public safety has been a big issue this year. We found the cops weren’t investigating hundreds of thousands of crimes, including many rapes, due to a lack of manpower. Now you’re telling us some transport units didn’t have enough people. We get it, hiring enough cops and FF’s has been impossible but does that justify all this provisions not found anywhere else in the country? Most people appreciate your service but that doesn’t mean you should get a blank check on the idea that if you don’t, you’ll leave.
Your continued disrespect for the Fire Chief is noted too. At this time, he has more experience as Fire Chief than anyone in HFD and has worked with what the previous administration provided. Those unhappy with the situation can leave if they must or they can simply do their job to the fullest of their ability but it reflects poorly on you to act like he’s an asterix chief. It’s the same kind of mentality we see with the “Trump’s still my President” nutcases who never quite got around to providing all that proof they talked about, especially after all those lost court battles across the country.
Nobody writes a 123 page contract overnight, I’d guess it would take, maybe the previous 8 years? Even Pena has been aware of many of the provisions. So, over the course of 8 years both Turner and Pena had the chance to address it and it could not have been a secret.
“Now you’re telling us some transport units didn’t have enough people.”? No, been saying that all along, do a basic Google search about the lack of personnel and the browning out of million dollar apparatus and you’ll get other people’s points of view. It’s no secret.
I thought Pena was going to be o.k. in the beginning. His first meetings with City Council he voiced a lot of concerns the FD had at the time, but he changed into a conduit for Turner, and that’s all he was after that. When obvious problems in staffing arised, he didn’t bring it up publically and went about his routine like nothing was wrong. Meanwhile people were being held over shift with no relief and denied the ability to go home without being disciplined for it. When the Mayor creates a staffing shortage and the Fire Chief puts the responsibility of that shortage on the personnel and does not stand up to the Mayor on behalf of people who “simply do their job to the fullest of their ability”, I don’t know HOW to respect those actions. Pena has made a bed for himself and now he can lay in it.
I also don’t know how to respect the firing of Marty Lancton, where the ‘Chief’ had to know it was only because Turner wanted to get rid of him. I voted for Lancton to represent me, and people in HISD don’t like their voted board getting the boot, well, similar situation. Pena should have told Turner he wouldn’t fire Marty Lancton because Pena had to know what was going on, but he chose a different action, one I just don’t even know HOW to respect.
I keep waiting on the local news media to report on homes or businesses burning to the ground or folks in distress kicking the bucket due to a shortage of HFD firefighters or paramedics available, but have yet to see them. Can anyone provide some hyperlinks to same ?
Go to the fire station, any hfd fire station, and ask them.
As best as I can tell, the 123 page contract was almost completely written by union negotiators as a wishlist. For his part, Mayor Whitmire appears to have accepted it whole, with a few exceptions to show he wasn’t completely owned. That could’ve taken little time to write and with no input from former Mayor Turner, nothing discussed so far sounding like anything he’d have signed off on including.
Just as the cops have been unable to find employees for decades now, this newfound shortage of FF seems more due to expectations stemming from the pension trims new hires were subjected to. Those were approved by the Governor and state legislature.
And disagreeing with the boss is common but you focus on what you believe, lacking any evidence, Chief Pena was instructed to do by his immediate boss, the Mayor. I have yet to hear anyone complain about his operational skills.
Well, don’t forget the judge who also expects a resolution, they also have a say in all of this, so let the negotiations fall through and see what happens. Turner put the city between a rock and a hard place and neither are going anywhere.
Re: “Go to the fire station, any hfd fire station, and ask them.” That makes no sense. I could go into any business tasked with any service and ask the existing employees if they’re overworked and if they thought additional employees were needed and 90% of them would answer in the affirmative. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re overworked and need help, it may in fact mean they just want to work less. I’m looking for statistical data that shows X couldn’t take place efficiently and on time due to a shortage of employees in the business line, and that is resulting in X being in danger of X.
Those who can do, do—those who can’t stay.
‘As best as I can tell, the 123 page contract was almost completely written by union negotiators as a wishlist. For his part, Mayor Whitmire appears to have accepted it whole, with a few exceptions to show he wasn’t completely owned. That could’ve taken little time to write and with no input from former Mayor Turner, nothing discussed so far sounding like anything he’d have signed off on including.” From JF
Maybe the feds need to come in and investigate to make sure there was no quid pro quo.
CL,
If you don’t trust anyone, then you have no point, if you want those types of reports, they’ve already been done. If you want to hear ‘Chief’ Pena say it, he says it too, look on the city council swagit site for his budget presentation a few weeks ago. I know you don’t trust me so it’s no use talking about it, so what’s your point? You’re going to tell me the Earth is flat until you blast yourself up in a rocket to see the round earth yourself and STILL not take that as proof? If you need no proof except for the death and destruction of those around you, then I hope you never get it.
Proof is, HFD apparatus has to have people to run them, if a person is forced to hold over after their designated shift, they’ve been forced to at the threat of discipline, go ask about that. There are also others who work so much overtime that they are told to go home for their own safety, go ask about that. If I’m wrong, come back and tell me. If you want to look at $ figures you can figure how much a person worked from their yearly take home. If a paramedic typically takes home $50k a year, but clears $200k, that’s $150k in overtime, is that fiscally responsible? Is that responsible toward personnel? Is that responsible for having an exhausted FF driving an apparatus? You can still not trust what I say, but that just makes it even more mindboggling amazing about the state of the FD, and what people believe. I don’t know what you want to believe, but whatever it is, it’s off base.
You are confirming my thought that the firefighters should work 8 hour shifts, 5 days a week with a ban on outside jobs. That would ensure that they are well rested and able to work. Every firefighter I’ve ever talked to made more from their second job than their HFD job, but the gold plated 80 percent city pension was sweet.
You should contact your city council member and let them know you have a super duper solution.
>>>>You are confirming my thought that the firefighters should work 8 hour shifts, 5 days a week with a ban on outside jobs. That would ensure that they are well rested and able to work. Every firefighter I’ve ever talked to made more from their second job than their HFD job, but the gold plated 80 percent city pension was sweet.
Brilliant idea – if we are in a staffing crisis now, what better way to solve it than to literally push the entire department out the door with your 8-hour shift model. I understand you have no problem cutting off your nose to spite your face, but there are some important arteries you might sever in the process. But kudos for thinking outside the box – there are no bad ideas here. Just bad people who come up with them.
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