Twenty-one newly hired firefighters have been asked to sign what union leaders are calling a "loyalty oath" promising to remain with the city for 10 years. The unusual memo stipulates that if the firefighters leave their jobs before 2015, they agree to forfeit accrued benefits and repay the city for their training and equipment.
The city broke the law in bypassing the union and taking the memo directly to the firefighters, union leaders say.
Union attorney Matt Mierzwa said he plans to file an unfair labor practice complaint with the Public Employees Relations Commission, a state agency that handles disputes involving public employees.
The city's memo constitutes an unfair labor practice because it involves a change in the terms and conditions of employment but has not been cleared by the union as required by law, Mierzwa said. "There's no doubt in my mind that this memo is illegal," he said.
Last week the city interviewed 30 applicants to fill 21 openings in the Fire Department to help cover recently annexed areas. All were asked to sign the memo, and all did, said City Manager Larry Deetjen, who drafted the document.
"I don't care what the union says," Deetjen said. "This is not the Army. You are not drafted. I want dedicated, committed people here. I want to make sure these people are going to be true-blue, Deerfield Beach people."
Deetjen said he is trying to keep the city from becoming a training ground for firefighters who later leave for higher salaries at bigger departments.
In the past five years, the department has lost 10 firefighters to bigger departments such as Metro-Dade and Fort Lauderdale, said Lt. Doug Watler, who as union president represents the city's 123 firefighters. They leave for the higher salaries and chances of promotion, he said.
Still, requiring firefighters to sign this type of long-term agreement is unprecedented, labor-relations expert John Remington said.
"I've never heard of [such a memo] in my 37 years in this business," said Remington, a professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management in Minneapolis. "I understand a city wanting to keep down turnover, but they have to bargain that with the union. I don't know that they can impose those terms under Florida statute."
Watler became alarmed when he heard new hires were being asked to sign what he calls a loyalty oath. "There is no way [the union] would accept this document."
The union opposes the 10-year commitment mentioned in the memo. Some small fire departments attempt to recoup training costs but typically require only a three-year commitment from employees, Mierzwa said.
The city is merely trying to curtail turnover, Fire Chief Gary Lother said. "We don't want to hire an employee and then lose them," Lother said. "It takes 10 years to vest in the pension. Not many people will leave after they're vested."
The union also objects to a line in the memo that states the new hires will not back a merger of the city Fire Department with the county.
The memo reads, in part: "I will forfeit all vesting and accrued benefits as well as reimburse the city for all training and personal equipment/uniform costs if I leave the city of Deerfield Beach of my own will prior to January 1, 2015. I have no desire to be a Broward County firefighter and am fully aware of efforts being made by [the fire union] to inform its membership of the benefits of being a firefighter for Broward County."
While city commissioners would make the final decision on a merger, the city's fire union has a right to take a stand on the issue, Watler said. A union vote on the matter is planned next week, even though the city ended a yearlong contract dispute with the fire union on Tuesday.
Union officials object to the city administration trying to influence new hires on a possible merger.
"They're putting these employees in a box," Mierzwa said.
"It's just not right."
