One more trip to the state’s highest court may follow
North Kingstown - The Town of North Kingstown responded to Judge Brian P.
Stern’s ruling in favor of the town’s firefighters on Tuesday. The judge’s
ruling came as no surprise said Daniel Kinder, counsel for the Town in an email
to members of the press.
After
all, Judge Stern already ruled against the Town in December of 2012.
The
Town reasoned that in upholding a State Labor Relations Board (SLRB) Unfair
Labor Practices ruling against the town, the judge was simply upholding his own
previous “Unring the Bell” decision, subsequently adopted by the
Labor Board.
“The court’s decision is no surprise. The Labor Board adopted
Judge Stern’s prior decision in its decision. Now, Judge Stern has upheld
that decision, again. The Supreme Court, however, has stayed Judge Stern’s
prior decision, and Judge Stern has stayed this decision, pending further
consideration by the Supreme Court,” said Daniel K. Kinder. EDITOR'S NOTE: Kinder also serves as Charlestown's lawyer on labor issues.
“Decision
was fully expected, as was Judge Stern’s stay pending Supreme Court review,”
she wrote after Stern’s ruling.
The Judge’s ruling against the Town in December 2012, ordered the
Town to restore the fire department structure to that existing prior to its
unilateral implementation of wage, shift and platoon structures made on March
4, 2012.
Unilateral changes come at a
cost to the town
The restitution, ordered by both the SLRB and Stern carries a “$2.8 million and climbing” price tag according to Raymond Furtado, President IAFF NKFFA Local 1651.
North
Kingstown Rep. Doreen Costa (R-Dist31) agreed with the court.
“The
Town needs to end this now. They need to listen to the Judge and the State
Labor Relations Board. They should have listened to them before. They can’t win
this fight and the expense of it is going to be on the backs of the taxpayers,”
she said. “Unfortunately, the taxpayers are going to pay for it all.”
The State Labor Relations Board filed Unfair Labor Practices
complaints against the Town finding bad faith bargaining on the town’s behalf
and ordering every firefighter to be made whole, including all back pay and
benefits owed. The changes, made outside the purview of collective
bargaining and in opposition to the statutorily constructed Firefighter’s
Arbitration Act were
deemed unlawful by the court.
The
SLRB, after joining the Union and Town in a jurisdictional roller coaster ride
through the courts and administrative processes, ruled against the Town. The
SLRB decision supported Judge Stern’s Unring the Bell ruling, also ordering a
return to shift and platoon structure as known at the end of the 2010-2011
contract.
Union
President, Raymond Furtado, in an interview on Sunday evening, responded to the
Town’s comments.
“The response from the Town’s attorney following their latest loss
in Superior Court is rambling and delusional in nature,” said Union President
Raymond Furtado in a statement on Monday. “It is vindictive in tone and is a
stark departure from the type of release we’ve seen from Mr. Kinder following
the Town’s multiple other losses. Further, it is devoid of fact in nearly all
respects. The assertions that we insist on being “paid two-million dollars
before we will talk” and that “the experts for both sides agreed that this work
schedule is safer” are blatant misrepresentations of fact.”
New Government formed
Kinder’s email further indicated that the Judge’s decision created a new government run by firefighters.
“The decision sets up the fire fighter’s union as a branch of
government that can veto the lawful actions of a municipal government, taken to
protect all its citizens in time of economic crisis.” ~ Daniel Kinder, Esq.
The
Judge’s decision, said Kinder, was not only contrary to law, but to the
Rhode Island Constitution and Town’s Charter.
The
aversion that the firefighters were somehow in control of negotiations, holding
veto powers contradicts the actuality of the current situation, the Town’s own
implementation of “unilateral changes” and it’s veto of a signed
Tentative Contract Agreement in
February 2013.
The
court’s decision addressed the Charter arguments at
length rendering them “tautological and without merit.”
Perhaps
one of the more puzzling statements from Kinder averred that experts for the
Town and Union agreed that the “current work schedule in the fire department is
safer than the old one was.”
To
read the conclusion to Tracey’s article, please click
here.
