CLEVELAND, Ohio — Fire union cooperation is necessary for a merger between Cleveland’s fire department and ambulance service to yield faster run times and more lives saved, Mayor Frank Jackson’s administrators say.
The first steps of the integration are coming in the next few weeks, according to The Plain Dealer, but the firefighters union has filed a grievance requesting arbitration of the merger’s details.
Although the EMS union initially pushed for the same thing, the city said it could result in a plan that does not meet the needs of Cleveland’s residents or is difficult to implement.
“The city came to us and negotiated in good faith,” Stephen Palek, president of the EMS union, told the paper. “So we decided that rather than putting up roadblocks right from the start, we’d see what they had to say. Somebody had to take that first step -- that leap of faith. In the spirit of integration, it was the right thing to do.”
In the integrated department, workers can both fight fires and respond to medical emergencies, creating about two dozen job openings for firefighters with paramedic certifications.
But according to the union, the agreement says new EMS hires will eventually replace firefighters and lock out union members from their jobs. City administrators have been publicizing information about the integration and the grievances, the union says, rather than talking to the union.
“It’s improper for the city to sidestep the union,” firefighters union President Frank Szabo told the paper. “The city hasn’t shared any information with us on what they plan to do. My members are aware that there is an agreement with the [EMS] union. And it has caused widespread concern and added a degree of uncertainty to the working environment that is not beneficial to the citizens or the firefighters.”