O P I N I O N
THE SOAP BOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.
The members of the Manchester Fire Department were very disappointed by the lack of support from the Mayor and some of the Aldermen at last the June 14 special meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
Jeff Duval, President of the Manchester Professional Fire Fighters Association, and Jim Michael, President of the Manchester Association of Fire Supervisors, released a joint statement June 15 expressing their displeasure.
“Saying that you support the firefighters and are ‘in debt to our service’ moments before you veto an agreement to secure a contract is insincere and disingenuous at best,” said Duval in response to the Mayors remarks Wednesday night.
A recent fact-finding report concluded members of the Firefighters and Fire Supervisors union should receive a 3 percent cost of living increase on July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2018, along with hazardous duty pay in the same manner the police unions were awarded by the Board. The report also ruled in favor of the City when it came to severance benefits and overtime opportunities, among other things.
Duval was disappointed that three of the Aldermen, Pat Long, Barbara Shaw and Keith Hirschman, did not support the contract that was, for all intents and purposes, the same recently ratified by the police union.
“We support our Brothers in Blue 100 percent, and believe they deserved and earned the agreement that they got. We also believe that we work in a hazardous duty career and think that we should be entitled to similar wages and benefits,” Duval said.
Added Jim Michael, “Not everything came out in our favor but our thought process going in was that we will accept an independent third party’s decision. That’s why this process is in place and we respect that.”
Both Duval and Michael gave praise to Chief Goonan, who stood strong for his Department during the hearing, expressing his support of the report. “Knowing that the Chief has your back in our line of work is critical and we will have his,” Duval said.
They also expressed thanks to those Aldermen that stood with them and supported the report.
“We know that they have a job to do and it’s very difficult dealing with the political pressure. But they faced that pressure and did what they thought was right and supported the fire service and their constituents. We don’t forget things like that.” added Michael.
Both memberships will now vote on the report, as required by law, which will determine a subsequent plan of action after the results are counted.
