From The Woonsocket Call, March 24

WOONSOCKET, RI – The fire department is covering the city without the help of 11 laid-off members and that had the firefighters union pointing out the resulting higher costs in department overtime on Monday.

Fire Lt. Steven Reilly, president of Local 732 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said the costs of overtime to fill shifts totaled $12,784. for the week of March 8 following the layoffs and another $11,768 in overtime for last week.

Reilly believes the city would be paying less in staff costs if the 11 firefighters were recalled to duty.

“It makes no sense. For every person that is out they have to fill their shift with overtime,” Reilly said.

The department has a minimum manning requirement that sets how many fighters must staff fire equipment on each shift. The staffing requirements result in firefighters either staying on overtime or being called in on overtime, according Reilly.

The layoffs came after Associate Superior Court Susan E. McGuirl allowed the city to layoff a limited number of firefighters as part of its efforts to balance a $3.6 million deficit in the current city budget. McGuirl did not free the city from its manning requirements however and specified that reduction in force should take into account members retiring from the department in recent weeks.

At the time of the layoffs, seven department members had moved to take retirement under the recent exodus from public service positions in the state and that number was applied to the reduction of 18 positions with the layoffs.

Since the layoffs went into effect, Reilly said the department has not been able to fill shifts without paying overtime to the 114 department members who remain.

Part of the problem is the result of a past move by the city to reduce department staffing while counting on overtime to cover department vacations and sick leaves, according to Reilly.

The past staffing reduction combined with the new layoffs has made it even more costly to fill shifts, he said.

“The city complains about the cost of overtime and yet they created more overtime by lowering the number of people on the department,” he said.

As of Monday, Reilly said the fire department and the city were still waiting to schedule a new round of talks on an as yet unsettled contract between the sides.

But Reilly said the settlement of a contract should not be the impetus for recalling the layoffs given the costs the city is currently facing from that move.

“We're hoping the city sees that these layoffs are costing them more and not saving them money,” he said. “They need to bring some of these people back to begin lowering the cost of overtime,” Reilly said.

As of Monday all 11 of the laid-off firefighters, the department's least senior members, were still out of work, Reilly noted. The department staffs five engines, two ladder trucks, and two rescues on each shift. Engines are staffed with three firefighters each, ladder trucks with three and rescues with two firefighters. A deputy chief and two firefighters working dispatch are also on duty for each shift.

In addition to the firefighters out on layoff, the department is about the lose Chief Kenneth Finlay to retirement on March 29 and also a fire department captain, Thomas Papa, who will be retiring on April 1.

Reilly said he did not know if the departures would result in any of the laid-off fighters being called back to duty.

The union official said he plans to speak with Mayor Susan D. Menard about another round of talks sometime this week. Menard could not be reached for comment.