From The Providence Journal, March 5

PROVIDENCE, RI – Woonsocket has the go-ahead to lay off nearly a dozen firefighters after Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl yesterday refused the union's request to keep a job-cutting ban in force.

McGuirl's 29-page decision said the city must have no fewer than 114 firefighting staff, besides the chief, which means cutting as many as 11 union firefighters and keeping seven positions vacant. The department, when fully staffed, has 132 employees aside from the chief. The judge's order is in effect until June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Layoff notices will go out by the end of the week, and job cuts will be according to seniority, said Joseph Rodio, a lawyer for the city. “Maybe there is a glimmer of hope that the firefighters union will sit down and avert” layoffs before notices go out, he added.

The union “will look at” whether to appeal the decision, said Joseph A. Andriole, staff representative of the Rhode Island State Association of Fire Fighters.

McGuirl rejected arguments by Local 732 of the International Association of Fire Fighters that layoffs would cause health and safety problems for remaining firefighters.

The court “has before it no reliable documentation of reliable evidence or any evidence that is not opinion evidence by interested parties regarding stress levels, fatigue, injury levels, age-related issues or reduction of training,” the decision states. “The evidence submitted is speculative.”

The court “is sympathetic to the potential financial hardships” of layoffs but “the law is clear,” the decision says. “Financial hardship alone does not rise to the level of irreparable harm.”

The decision noted that if the city's financial situation improves, it could rehire laid-off firefighters.

But city officials say they are dealing with an expected $3.6-million cut in state aid in the current budget year and another roughly $1-million shortfall. The city unsuccessfully sought from the firefighters union pay cuts and givebacks amounting to $729,000 in savings. Rodio said the firefighter layoffs plus possible concessions from police and clerical workers unions would total $1.6 million in savings.

Cutting the school budget would be another component of the plan, and the city expects to work with state Auditor General Ernest Almonte's office on an effort in which two years of deficits –– next year's situation is expected to rival this year's –– must be resolved in a three-year period. Rodio said the hope is retirements and concessions will help do that.

The union wanted McGuirl to make permanent a temporary layoff ban issued by Judge Richard J. Israel last month. Several people testified last week, including a lieutenant who said cutbacks could fuel stress and fatigue by forcing firefighters to stay over shifts, and safety problems if a firefighter was driving a fire truck to a fire. Testimony for the city said that without concessions, the city could face insolvency.

The city is looking for more than $500,000 in police union concessions. Police union president Sgt. John Scully said that, while the union is “always open to sit down and negotiate,” yesterday's decision for the firefighters did not dissuade the police from going to court. Scully noted some 20 Police Department retirements already.