MAFF Exec. Director: ‘We’re at an impasse’

Fred Timpner, executive director of the Michigan Association of Fire Fighters, said Friday, Jan. 15, that the union is at an impasse with the city of Belleville over the first contract for city paid-on-call fire fighters.
About two years ago the fire fighters voted to join MAFF because they felt the city was not treating them fairly, said Belleville union president Brian Blackburn.
Ever since then they have been negotiating for their first contract.
Blackburn said when the Sumpter Township fire fighters organized under MAFF, it took just two months to get their first contract.
After two years of negotiations, Timpner said it looked like there would be an agreement in December, but the employer backed away from the items agreed upon.
He said the union filed for binding arbitration because “we’re at an impasse.” He said MAFF is waiting for the state to assign an arbitrator so a schedule can be set up. He said they should know their arbitrator by the end of January.
“After two years, we’re throwing our hands up,” Timpner said,
He said the last agreement was taken to the mayor in December and it came back changed and there has been no more movement.
Timpner said the big item is over the wages. He said when the fire fighters get called from their homes in all kinds of weather and all times of day, the pay of $14 an hour is reduced to $10 an hour after the first hour.
He said the union wants no reduction after the first hour. It’s like the fire fighters are punished if they don’t get the fire out in an hour, he said.
“I call these fire fighters our modern-day Minute Men, who when they heard the British are coming all ran from their fields to attend to the British,” Timpner said.
“These guys drop what they’re doing and respond,” Timper said, adding he wishes city officials would respond as quickly and responsibly as the fire fighters do.
“None of these fire fighters go into this to get rich and make money. It’s for community pride and to help serve.
“The mayor should be ashamed,” Timpner stated.
He said the state mediator was on hand for the union’s final offer and representatives of the employer said they would send it to the mayor.
“They changed it,” Timpner said, explaining when it came back from the mayor the reduction in pay had been reinserted.
“There has been no more movement,” Timpner said. “We’re done.”
He said the city and MAFF will split the cost of binding arbitration, which will cost about $1,000 a day per hearing and includes a court stenographer. The sides will split the costs of their legal representation.
He said it usually is about three days for the hearing in this kind of case and another 10 days after that.
He said the total fee is from $10,000 to $20,000, split equally, not including the transcript and attorney fees.
“I’m really proud to represent these fire fighters,” Timpner said of the Belleville union. “God forbid the mayor’s house burned. These fire fighters would respond and fight the fire with the best possible service as if it were anyone else.”
The Independent informed him that Mayor Kerreen Conley’s house had caught on fire in December 2013 during the first year of negotiations and the fire fighters had saved her home.
Timpner, who came into the ongoing negotiations last summer, said he didn’t know that, but he is not surprised how they responded.
“It goes to their character. Your community has every right to be proud of them.”
Mayor Conley was not available for comment since she was in Washington, D.C. attending the Conference of U.S. Mayors.