I would like the citizens of College Station to be aware of a labor and compensation initiative being pursued by the College Station Fire Department Firefighter's Association, which is a labor union; they do not represent the fire department as a whole.
Recently, this firefighters' union, again, who do not represent the entire department, has pushed the agenda, with in conjunction with the International Firefighters Association to push for civil service and collective bargaining. Please do your research before signing any petition or voting for any propositions regarding this. It is not supported by my city leadership nor the many department members.
The fire department union is pushing for civil service and collective bargaining, which will in the long run raise taxes and push funds away from the fire department operations and possible other city operations to the future funding of litigation. This history can be found in researching the Houston Fire Department and the years of litigation and arbitration, causing the firefighters to be not compensated for years by not reaching an agreement. This can cause distention in the fire department, leading to bad attitudes and less stellar service for the citizens. This is not what College Station Fire Department stands for, and this initiative will ultimately damage everything this city has worked and paid for.
The firefighters will lose excessive compensation due to the framework that the city must stay within per civil service guidelines. All hiring, promotions, pay, etc. will not be within control of the city and the firefighters will now have to fight for what is already being afforded for them concerning pay and benefits. Each firefighter stands to lose 15k-25k in compensation between this year's pay raises and incentive pays.
The fire department labor union took a vote of a small percentage of members to research becoming civil service and exploring collective bargaining without bringing the full details to light. Keep in mind, there is a large number of department members who are not union members and have no voice and no vote.
Once the vote was completed, the union fully charged the initiative with most of the voting membership, not understanding that the vote was turned from a fact-finding mission to a full charge forward with approximately 80k being spent hiring a consulting company to charge the effort. This effort starts with having a petition signed, once the required signatures are verified, it will be placed on November's ballot.
This initiative will raise taxes, defund city departments due to on-going litigation, and cut salaries of fire department members significantly. College Station Police Department explored the option and ultimately decided against it. The College Station Fire Department has been well taken care of over the last few years, salaries have been raised, incentive pay has been increased, schedule has been changed, staffing has increased but a few gamblers with voices are willing to destroy the entire department's upward trajectory because they feel the firefighters should be paid more.
There has been no transparency by the firefighter's union to the full department members (union members or non-union members) and doings have been behind closed doors. This initiative affects the entire department and city management. I would encourage you to reach out to city and fire department leadership before signing a petition or casting a vote.
Recently, this firefighters' union, again, who do not represent the entire department, has pushed the agenda, with in conjunction with the International Firefighters Association to push for civil service and collective bargaining. Please do your research before signing any petition or voting for any propositions regarding this. It is not supported by my city leadership nor the many department members.
The fire department union is pushing for civil service and collective bargaining, which will in the long run raise taxes and push funds away from the fire department operations and possible other city operations to the future funding of litigation. This history can be found in researching the Houston Fire Department and the years of litigation and arbitration, causing the firefighters to be not compensated for years by not reaching an agreement. This can cause distention in the fire department, leading to bad attitudes and less stellar service for the citizens. This is not what College Station Fire Department stands for, and this initiative will ultimately damage everything this city has worked and paid for.
The firefighters will lose excessive compensation due to the framework that the city must stay within per civil service guidelines. All hiring, promotions, pay, etc. will not be within control of the city and the firefighters will now have to fight for what is already being afforded for them concerning pay and benefits. Each firefighter stands to lose 15k-25k in compensation between this year's pay raises and incentive pays.
The fire department labor union took a vote of a small percentage of members to research becoming civil service and exploring collective bargaining without bringing the full details to light. Keep in mind, there is a large number of department members who are not union members and have no voice and no vote.
Once the vote was completed, the union fully charged the initiative with most of the voting membership, not understanding that the vote was turned from a fact-finding mission to a full charge forward with approximately 80k being spent hiring a consulting company to charge the effort. This effort starts with having a petition signed, once the required signatures are verified, it will be placed on November's ballot.
This initiative will raise taxes, defund city departments due to on-going litigation, and cut salaries of fire department members significantly. College Station Police Department explored the option and ultimately decided against it. The College Station Fire Department has been well taken care of over the last few years, salaries have been raised, incentive pay has been increased, schedule has been changed, staffing has increased but a few gamblers with voices are willing to destroy the entire department's upward trajectory because they feel the firefighters should be paid more.
There has been no transparency by the firefighter's union to the full department members (union members or non-union members) and doings have been behind closed doors. This initiative affects the entire department and city management. I would encourage you to reach out to city and fire department leadership before signing a petition or casting a vote.