March 01--GREEN -- The city has appealed a decision by the State Employment Relations Board that ruled city officials failed to bargain in good faith with its firefighters/paramedics over an issue regarding the use of part-time employees.
The suit claims the board was wrong when it determined the city was in violation of a collective bargaining agreement when it hired part-time, nonunion employees to cover fire department work.
"SERB erred when it determined the City assigned bargaining unit work to non- bargaining member firefighters," according to the suit filed in Summit County Common Pleas Court this week.
The city began using supplemental, part-time employees in October 2012 to reduce overtime and vacation buy-back in the veteran 40- member department, where scheduling earned time off can be difficult.
Green stopped using the part-timers recently, before the board's ruling came down, city Law Director Stephen J. Pruneski said.
"Last year, the city paid just north of $405,000 on overtime and leave sale. [Mayor Dick Norton] wants to do something to get rid of it," Pruneski said.
The city in late December began negotiating a contract with the firefighters union. A three-year contract with Local 2964 of the International Association of Firefighters expired at the end of the year, Pruneski said.
"Our position is we tried to bargain [the issue] during negotiations and they failed to do it," he said.
Local 2964 filed the complaint with the state board in September. The board made its ruling Feb. 20.
Union President Matt Craddock, who has 20 years of service as a firefighter/paramedic for Green, said he couldn't discuss how the issue of part-time employees is affecting current negotiations.
While agreeing that the department is staffed with seasoned, longtime employees who sometimes have a hard time scheduling earned vacation time, he said the matter should have been settled by the ruling.
"We just want the city to follow the law. The State Employment Relations Board made its ruling, and we just want them to follow the ruling," Craddock said.
Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or [email protected].
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