Montana City Challenges BCs Being in Firefighters Union

The City of Bozeman is challenging a ruling of the Montana Board of Personnel Appeals that three new battalion chiefs should be included within IAFF Local 613. The ruling issued last June concluded that all positions below the rank of deputy chief should remain within the bargaining unit.

The battalion chief positions were created in 2007 but not actually filled until 2013. The collective bargaining agreement essentially provides that all personnel below deputy chief should be in Local 613, although some changes in titles over the years cast some doubt.

In June of 2013, the City of Bozeman petitioned the Board of Personnel Appeals to exclude the three newly created battalion chief positions from Local 613 “because it perceived these positions to be either supervisory, management, or confidential positions that could not properly be included in the bargaining unit.”

According to the hearing officer’s opinion:

• There is no evidence that battalion chiefs have the authority to hire, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, or reward other employees.
• There are no actual examples of battalion chiefs having any access to confidential labor relations information in the normal course of employment.
• To date, there are no examples of battalion chiefs participating in any manner as a City representative or as part of the City’s bargaining team in negotiations with Local 613.
• When the City created the three battalion chief positions, the union, which supported the creation of the positions, took a vote on whether or not to retain the three positions in the bargaining unit. Of the 38 members in the unit, 30 voted in favor of keeping the three battalion chief positions in the unit, one member indicated he was neutral on the idea, and the remaining seven members did not respond. No member voted in favor of removing the three positions from the unit.
• Keeping all positions except the chief and deputy in chief in the bargaining unit is consistent with the party’s historical practices and has not created an actual substantial conflict between management and the bargaining unit. Therefore, there is no basis to remove the positions from the unit, even if they are found to wield supervisory or management authority.

The full board adopted the hearing officer’s ruling on June 30, 2014, from which the city appealed to Gallatin County District Court.

Here is a copy of the MBPA ruling: cbdec1821_2013

According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Bozeman is not alone in keeping BCs in the bargaining unit. Battalion chiefs in Billings, Missoula and Great Falls are in the firefighters union. Here is more on the appeal.