Our Governments are having trouble balancing their budgets; our families are struggling to keep food on the table. In this tough economy, we all have concerns weighing on our minds. Focusing and doing a job well can be difficult with the realities of unsafe equipment or tools that should be replaced. For most people, having well-maintained equipment versus run-down equipment might mean the difference between a computer that boots up slower or a copier that sometimes jams.
For fire fighters and the communities we protect, it might mean the difference between a home burning to the ground or even life and death. Fire fighting is an inherently dangerous job and while you cannot take the danger out of the job, you can make it safer.
Fire fighters want the ability to work with their employers to obtain the safest equipment possible. There is a difference between a $20 helmet and a $1,000 helmet and most fire fighters are willing to give up wage increases to make sure they are able to come home to their families after every shift.
The Fire Fighter and Law Enforcement Officer Collective Bargaining Act (SB180) under consideration in the Colorado Legislature would help local governmental agencies and public safety personnel come together to address and solve these types of workplace challenges in a cooperative and productive manner, promoting more effective and efficient delivery of emergency services during times of both economic difficulties and prosperity.
The City and County of Denver, which is experiencing the same economic difficulties as other government entities in the state, recently avoided laying off fire fighters by working with the Union. The fire fighters came together to support each other, the City and the safety of the community by reducing pay and benefits rather than seeing colleagues lose their jobs and fire stations operate with fewer personnel to respond to emergencies. Such negotiations involve the exchange of information and ideas and often result in a give and take that leaves both sides better off, as the Denver agreement did.
“It’s a win-win deal for everyone,” Eric Tade, the governmental affairs director for the union, told The Denver Post. “Services don’t get cut for citizens. Firefighters get to keep their jobs, and the administration doesn’t have to make layoffs.”
For decades, the City and County of Denver and the City of Aurora have successfully used similar systems for addressing concerns. Although both these cities offer examples of what such collaborations could look like in other cities and towns, SB180 preserves a sense of local control by focusing such conversations and negotiations between the local municipality or fire protection district and the local union.
In SB 180, there are also local mechanisms for solving disputes should the bargaining representatives reach an impasse. The Fire Fighter and Law Enforcement Officer Collective Bargaining Act specifically prohibits strikes. Instead, it creates an advisory fact-finder system that brings the parties together to resolve disagreements over workplace issues. In the event that either of the parties are unwilling to accept the fact-finder’s determinations, this bill places the ultimate decision of whether to adopt either of the parties’ proposals in the hands of the people: the voters in the municipality or fire protection district.
The Fire Fighter and Law Enforcement Officer Collective Bargaining Act is designed to encourage voluntary agreements to prohibit unnecessarily prolonged negotiations and to fit within the budgeting requirements of local jurisdictions. Yes, you read that right. This isn’t about increased wages and benefits but making sure our municipalities are spending their limited resources the best way possible – which may times means forgoing raises in order to get safer equipment.
During a period when resources like financial capital are limited, The Fire Fighter and Law Enforcement Officer Collective Bargaining Act encourages us to value other resources: human capital that generates creative ideas, conversation and collaboration to save our governments’ money while protecting the health and safety of both fire fighters and the public.
Mark Rogers is a member of the Littleton Fire Department.
This online-only guest commentary was not edited.
