Wilkes Barre Arbitration Decision Changes Residency Requirement But Not Staffing

An arbitration decision in Pennsylvania awarded firefighters the right to live outside the community. But the decision is being criticized by the firefighters’ union more for what it failed to do than what it actually did.

A three arbitrator panel handling the Wilkes Barre interest arbitration issued its ruling on February 1, 2011, awarding IAFF Local 104 two 3% raises effective January 1, 2011 and January 1, 2012, and granting personnel permission to live within a 13.5 mile radius of fire department headquarters effective January 1, 2012.

The decision also eliminated parity pay with police, eliminated a no-layoff provision, imposed mandatory drug and alcohol testing, and increased the health care co-share for firefighters by 8%.

The union’s labor arbitrator, Thomas W. Jennings, refused to sign the decision and instead wrote a scathing dissenting opinion criticizing the panel for ignoring uncontradicted evidence submitted at the hearing on the need to increase staffing for reasons of firefighter safety. Staffing had been reduced from 14 to 12 in the last year due to budget concerns.

Here are copies of the decision and the dissent.

Download Fire_award

Download Fire_dissent

 

About Curt Varone

Curt Varone has over 45 years of fire service experience and 35 as a practicing attorney licensed in both Rhode Island and Maine. His background includes 29 years as a career firefighter in Providence (retiring as a Deputy Assistant Chief), as well as volunteer and paid on call experience. He is the author of two books: Legal Considerations for Fire and Emergency Services, (2006, 2nd ed. 2011, 3rd ed. 2014, 4th ed. 2022) and Fire Officer's Legal Handbook (2007), and is a contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine writing the Fire Law column.
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