The St. Paul Fire Department's Rescue Squad 2 is back on the chopping block, after a disagreement between the firefighters union and the fire chief and mayor.
Mayor Chris Coleman sent a letter to Mike Smith, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 21, on Tuesday, Aug. 7, saying the specialty rescue squad would be decommissioned for budget reasons.
Coleman wrote that to keep Rescue Squad 2 in service, he'd expected the union to sign a memorandum of understanding about staffing another rescue squad with four people vs. the five called for in the firefighters' contract.
"However, the city continues to face tight budget realities and at the end of the day I believe it the chief's job to manage the department and its deployment of resources," Coleman wrote.
No firefighters will lose their jobs as a result of cutting Rescue Squad 2, the city said.
Smith said Coleman's move is "nothing more than retaliation because we challenged the city on staffing." The union filed a grievance over the department pulling the fifth crew member off rescue squads, and an arbitrator ruled in the union's favor in December 2010, Smith said.
The department abided by the ruling, but the union agreed this year that the department could staff one rescue squad with four people to save money.
Joe Campbell, Coleman's spokesman, said the union calling the mayor's move retaliation "misrepresents the entire dialogue." Union leadership backed out of their
proposal to staff a rescue squad with one fewer person, he said.
The discussions about Rescue Squad 2 started last year during the budget process, when Fire Chief Tim Butler needed to cut his budget and proposed axing Rescue Squad 2. Based at University Avenue and Vandalia Street, it is one of three rescue squads in the city that handle emergency rescues and extrications.
After firefighters and city council members raised concerns that decommissioning Rescue Squad 2 would leave a hole in emergency response, the union asked that a committee be convened to find other solutions, and the mayor's office and Butler organized a task force.
The task force made recommendations, and Coleman adopted them in a May letter to the participants.
In exchange for saving Rescue Squad 2, the task force decided that Engine 13 would be browned out for the rest of the year. And the union agreed that Rescue Squad 3 could be operated with four people.
The union disagreed with other changes the chief implemented and filed a grievance, again over fully staffing rescue squads.
On Thursday, Smith said Coleman gave him what he considered an ultimatum: The union needed to agree to staff Rescue Squad 3 with four people or he would decommission Rescue Squad 2.
Campbell said of the mayor, "He's got a budget address next week, and we had to print a budget book."
Smith said the union is considering its next steps.
"The bottom line is what he's (Coleman's) trying to do is unfair labor practice," Smith said.
Campbell responded, "If it's an unfair labor practice, I don't understand why Mike Smith would have suggested it in the task force."
City council President Kathy Lantry, who was part of the Rescue Squad 2 task force, said: "The mayor did what he thinks is best in consultation with the chief. I completely understand where he's coming from. I just happen to disagree with where he ended up."
Butler said he's operating under the assumption that the squad will be cut this year.
Smith said he's heard the squad could be cut in the next week.
Copyright 2012 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
