Dear Brothers,
By now, I am sure you have read the Morning Call article that puts forth facts as they regard sick leave use within the Fire Department.
During the course of the preparation of the article, over several conversations with the Morning Call, I detailed many other factors that lead to overtime.
For instance, the Morning Call, in its article neglected to accurately reflect the important part that total department strength plays in relation to minimum shift strength. For instance, in the beginning of 2005 shift strength was 25 men per shift. In January, that number goes up to 30. That is a 25% increase with no appreciable increase in staffing.
In fact, during that time, we lost 10 men (2 ½ per shift.) All of this while the Fire Department asked the Union to increase training time by 50%!!!!
So, 10 men short, with 11 in training for 18 weeks puts an enormous overtime burden on the department. That in effect, is 21 men short. That’s 5 men per shift. That’s 5 men short before vacation. That’s 5 men before anyone calls in sick.
The article references Bethlehem and Easton sick leave use and total overtime budgets. Without reasoned thought, it looks like Allentown took 500 more days than Bethlehem in a given year. We did, but we are also a department 40% larger than Bethlehem. The real question then becomes, if the sick leave usage for all three departments is relatively the same then why is our overtime so high??
First of all, you would expect a department that is 40% larger to have a 40% greater number. What about the difference? Department strength versus shift strength is a factor. But that would take away from the sensationalism of the article if the Morning Call reported that. As you are aware, there are many more factors that impact overtime and those were explained to the Call.
For instance, the article focused on absences with unsupported medical documentation, but yet they used George Magdich as an example. In the example used, George would have had to support his absence with documentation. In fact he did. The Morning Call did not report that George’s absence was related to his back and resulting surgery. They did not report that George had a motorcycle accident that seriously injured his wrist. They did not report that George had an on the job injury this year. If they had reported that, it would have taken away from the sensationalism. Examples like this are abundant.
For the record, here is the prepared response that the Union gave the Call:
This local has never, nor ever will advocate the improper use of sick leave. Bearing that in mind, firefighting remains one of the most physically demanding and dangerous professions in the United States. An ill or injured firefighter, on-the-job, ceases being an asset and alternatively becomes a liability to his co-workers, his employer and to those he has sworn to save. There are far too many dangerous conditions in a firefighter’s job that is beyond his control. Reporting to work in a less than optimal condition is one of the few dangers we can control. Given the choice of reporting back too soon, or waiting until you are totally recovered, there is only one responsible choice. And that choice is to error on the side of safe.
Although it may not be a an economically popular choice, after all is said and done, a firefighter’s ultimate obligation is to go home to his loved one’s, safe and sound at the end of their shift. Unfortunately, in the history of our fire department, 21 of our brothers went to work and never returned home.
In 1931, the state legislature affixed the accrual rate for sick leave and the requirements for documentation necessary for absences greater than 4 workdays. This local and its members for all of those years have conducted themselves within those parameters. 78 years ago, during the greatest depression of our time, those legislators, despite the cost and the economy understood the physical demands of firefighting. Unfortunately, the focus seems to have changed to dollars and cents first.
In an ever increasing litigious society, you don’t need to have a vivid imagination to understand the consequences of reporting back to work without having properly purged your system of prescription drugs that can impair judgment and performance. City employees are far too familiar with how the City ‘backs-up’ its employees in fatal situations. They don’t.
It is disappointing to say the least that the City administration, only after the investigation by the Morning Call, miraculously now has a problem with employee attendance when, for over the last 15 years since the inception of the ‘occasion’ system, they have not addressed their concerns in contract negotiations.
