One-Quarter of NOLA Firefighters Call in Sick

Roughly one-quarter of the New Orleans firefighters scheduled to work Saturday called in sick, as a simmering labor fight between their union and Mayor LaToya Cantrell entered a second week.

Union leaders — who are demanding solutions to their department’s staff shortages as well as changes to overtime policies — denied that their members had staged an organized sickout to pressure Cantrell’s administration as it managed the first of two major weekends of Carnival parades.

Union spokesman Doug Shanahan blamed flu season for the number of absences he acknowledged was higher than usual. A Cantrell spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nonetheless, as a result of the manpower shortage, at least four Fire Department companies for now can only run two-man fire trucks, which is below the three-firefighter minimum required by the National Fire Prevention Association. The NFPA’s recommendations are not law, city policy prohibits those on a two-firefighter truck from entering the scene of a structure fire without first waiting for backup, meaning response times could increase.

Shanahan said the companies running two-man trucks are based at Decatur and Frenchmen streets in Faubourg Marigny; St. Claude and Poland avenues in Bywater; on Basin Street across from the Municipal Auditorium in Treme; and Fire Department headquarters in the 300 block of Decatur Street in the French Quarter.

The exact number of firefighters who called in sick wasn’t immediately available. Shanahan acknowledged hearing unconfirmed reports that roughly 30 had done so. There are about 125 firefighters on duty on a typical day, and the Fire Departments counts about 480 total employees.

The shortage comes eight days after union leaders met with Cantrell’s administration to discuss changes to an overtime policy which they argue defers or denies them pay they have earned.

Union members have other grievances, including with policies addressing pensions, promotions and rates for off-duty details. But overtime tops the list, with officials saying firefighters had essentially been expected to volunteer to work 90 or more hours a week to make up for chronic understaffing.

In any event, the union and the administration failed to solve their differences during the Feb. 7 meeting. And on Monday, the firefighters announced they would boycott working all voluntary overtime but still show up for their regular shifts.

The next day, Fire Department Superintendent Timothy McConnell canceled many firefighters’ vacations and other leave indefinitely. He said the step was necessary for the department to adequately staff stations across the city, especially with the agency roughly 60 firefighters short of its authorized strength.

That order also made clear that anyone calling in for sick leave would need a doctor’s note upon returning to work.

Another notable change to the Fire Department’s operation was announced Friday, hours before Carnival parades began rolling Uptown. McConnell said truck crews would conduct safety inspections on floats and flambeaux before each parade but then return to their stations to answer calls for service rather than trail the processions, as had long been tradition.

Cantrell and McConnell said that change had nothing to do with the firefighters’ labor grievances, though they acknowledged the decision to make the switch was reached this week.

Cantrell has bristled at the firefighters’ posture, arguing the changes they demand would cost nearly $5 million a year and simply can’t be granted right now due to budget constraints. She said she also feels attacked because she approved a 10% pay raise in 2018 for firefighters and other city employees, who had not received such an increase in a decade.

“We will not be bullied,” Cantrell said Friday.

Union leaders counter that their requests would not immediately cost the city money. Shanahan said the union merely wants the city to sign agreements to work the overtime changes into the 2021 budgets, to advance pension reform proposals to the state Legislature next year and to sign a contract with the union, which last had one in 2011.

“This is a public-safety crisis created by the city and the Fire Department’s bureaucrats and politicians,” Shanahan said. “The firefighters have a solution, but those bureaucrats are not listening.”

The union has also sought a temporary injunction to block the city from enforcing the leave cancellations. The request is set to be heard by a Civil District Court judge next week.

The directive the union wants to nullify empowers McConnell to force firefighters to work overtime, something typically reserved for emergencies. McConnell has said that won’t be necessary if firefighters show up to work as scheduled.

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