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FLINT, Michigan — Station 8 firefighters on the city’s south side had to travel less than a mile to save Dashawn Skinner’s McKinley Avenue house from an electrical fire two years ago.
But help might not be so close by in the future.

(Ryan Garza | The Flint Journal)Captain David Brelinski of Flint Fire Station 5 gets dressed to respond to a call to an abandoned structure fire last month.

One of the city’s five fire stations could be closed on March 5 after tentatively planned Fire Department demotions take effect in a cost-cutting measure.

“They were there quick,” said Skinner 14, as he walked passed the fire station, remembering the blaze and contemplating having to depend on stations further north.

“If it’s a bad fire, It could take too long. The house could burn down.”

The damage to his home forced his family out of the home for two weeks but firefighters saved the house from total destruction.

“You’ll have to wait for another fire station to come all the way down here,” said Skinner’s friend Tavias Jackson, 16, as the two walked along Buckingham Avenue near Red Arrow Road.

“I got friends whose fathers who work there, too,” he said.

City officials again are eying at least one possible fire station closure as they prepare to demote 10 firefighters to help balance the city’s deficit budget.

A memo sent to administrators and the union said Station 8 will close March 5, although Chief Alvern Lock said a final decision has not yet been made.

“It’s an option,” Lock said of the memo.

Station 8 on East Atherton Road has the fewest number of calls of the city’s five operating fire stations.

The potential closure comes several months after firefighters rejected contract concessions that would have cut their benefits and saved the city about $1 million a year.

Mayor Dayne Walling said the concessions would have allowed all five fire stations to stay open.

Flint Firefighters Union President Raul Garcia has proposed an alternative  that would involve rotating firefighters to avoid any permanent station closures.

Under the plan, any station left understaffed because of sickness or vacation time on a given day would be closed for just that day, with the remaining firefighters moving to the four other stations. Garcia said the plan could save more than $600,000 in yearly overtime pay.

“They’re remaining steadfast on the demotions,” he said. “They don’t seem to believe the savings were there with the brownouts that we put out.”

Garcia plans to appeal to a City Council committee on Feb. 23 in an attempt to gain support for the brownout plan.

But Lock said the city indeed is considering the plan as an option.

“That was always on the table,” he said.

Lock also said any station could be shut down if the city goes that route, even though Station 8 has the lowest number of calls.

“There are other considerations that go into it other than that,” he said.

Art Wenzlaff, head of the Southside Business and Resident Association, said residents are disturbed by the idea of losing their fire station.

“They don’t want it closed,” he said. “I know it’s very political and the there’s union bargaining, but if we can all get together a little bit, we’re talking about property and people’s lives.

“We want a fire station right here. We’re trying to maintain this neighborhood, keep it together, and we have had some fires.”

He said that even though the station gets the least calls of the city’s five, people depend on it for help

“If you look beyond fires, those folks also cover paramedic services,” he said. “Heart attacks happen all over the city. You’re talking about human life here.”

Firefighters from Station 8 had to travel less than a mile to save Dashawn Skinner’s McKinley Avenue house from an electrical fire two years ago.

“They were there quick,” said Skinner, 14, as he walked passed the fire station, remembering the blaze and contemplating having to depend on stations farther north. “If it’s a bad fire, it could take too long. The house could burn down.”

The damage to his home forced his family out of the home for two weeks, but firefighters saved the house from total destruction.

Walling said last month that he was considering two station closures and demoting 21 fire department supervisors to save $500,000 this fiscal year. That plan targeted closing two of three stations — Station 5 on Western Road on the city’s east side, Station 3 on King Avenue just north of downtown or Station 8. One of them would have stayed open.

That plan was delayed when the city postponed the planned demotions in late January.

The demonstrations are likely to get larger as much of the nation turns its eyes to Governor Walker’s attempt to destroy public sector unions under the guise of solving the state’s budget woes.

The fast-moving legislation, which would shut down virtually all union rights for public sector workers, appeared to stall Thursday when State Senate Democrats left Madison to avoid participating in Walker’s anti-union budget bill. That move left the Senate without the minimum of 20 members required to act on legislation.

Both outside and inside the State Capitol building throngs of protesters marked their fourth day of demonstrations with chants of “kill this bill!” and “Walker must go!” according to the Wisconsin State Journal. This YouTube video posted Thursday captures the extent of the demonstration, which showed no signs of letting up.

The measure had been moving quickly through the Wisconsin state legislature on its way to Governor Walker’s desk. Despite several attempts to amend the bill, it sailed through the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee in a 12-4 vote.

Governor Walker has indicated that he wants the budget bill signed into law by February 22 before he begins work on the next year’s budget. IAFF 5th District Vice President Joe Conway says he expects more attacks on public sector unions in the next budget proposal as well.

It was unclear when lawmakers would again begin moving the legislation forward.

That such an assault and counter-protest could even occur in a pro-labor stronghold like Madison serves as a stark signal that the coast-to-coast assault on public employees – fire fighters, police, teachers, maintenance workers and government office workers – is for real.

“The attacks against fire fighters and other public employees have moved from nasty rhetoric to action, but we are not taking this lying down,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. “We will fight these unfair attacks wherever they happen.” President Schaitberger left Washington, DC for Madison Thursday to join in the protests and help convince state lawmakers to reverse course.

Though Governor Walker has exempted fire fighters and police from much of his union-busting budget plan, Wisconsin’s fire fighters are standing strong with their brothers and sisters in other public sector organizations. Hundreds fire fighters have joined the throngs of protestors marching, chanting and wielding signs demanding the governor, the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly stop the bill that would kill 40 years of collective bargaining.

“The governor has sought to divide labor by carving protective services out of his bill to destroy collective bargaining, but we are not going to let that happen,” says DVP Conway. “If we don’t stand together we will hang separately.” He adds, “This has nothing to do with balancing budgets.”

The Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin (PFFW) has summoned hundreds of fire fighters from across the state to join in the demonstrations. PFFW President Mahlon Mitchell met Thursday with his counterparts within the police union to form a unified front of first responders.

“When we fire fighters and police see and an emergency, we respond together, and this is an emergency,” he says. “If this bill becomes law, it with hurt all working people in the long run.”

As the Madison demonstrations have gathered steam, the nation has begun to notice the growing number of vicious anti-union budget battles unfolding in Wisconsin and other states.

President Barack Obama spoke February 16 with WTMJabout Governor Walker’s bill. “Some of what I’ve heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you’re just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain, generally seems like more of an assault on unions,” he said. “It’s very important for us to understand that public employees, they’re our neighbors, they’re our friends. These are folks who are teachers and they’re fire fighters and they’re social workers and they’re police officers. They make a lot of sacrifices and make a big contribution. It’s important not to vilify them or to suggest that somehow all these budget problems are due to public employees.”

“Binding arbitration keeps cops on the streets and that helps keep our communities safer,” said John Buczek, executive director of the Michigan Fraternal Order of Police. “It provides a fair process for all sides to follow so that we can work through our differences without letting negotiations get in the way of doing our jobs. PA 312 is good public policy. It works.”

Recent legislation introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives would eliminate binding arbitration and return police and firefighter negotiations back to the 1960s when collective bargaining impasses and strikes put public safety at risk.

Added Mark Docherty, president of the Michigan Professional Firefighters Union: “Over the course of 40 years, PA 312 has worked to keep contract disagreements in the background, allowing us to focus clearly on what matters most to Michigan citizens – making public safety the number-one priority.”

PA 312, known as the Michigan Policemen’s and Firemen’s Compulsory Arbitration Act, was signed into law in 1969 after several work stoppages by police officers and firefighters threatened public safety. The law is the result of nearly four years of study by a commission appointed by then-Gov. George Romney and was designed to maintain services by settling labor disputes between public safety employees and municipalities through an impartial arbitration panel.

Most labor negotiations between public safety employees and municipalities are settled without the need for binding arbitration. But for the few cases each year where there is an impasse, PA 312 offers a fair and transparent process for all parties to present their last, best offers to an impartial arbitration panel. In such cases, the panel holds a hearing, considers the facts presented – including the municipality’s ability to pay as prescribed by the law – and then decides which side’s final offers to accept.

Buczek and Docherty said recent efforts to eliminate PA 312 gloss over the facts about the law, especially with regard to healthcare and benefit costs communities pay. A study of PA 312 found that when arbitration was sought, municipalities won – or had their final best offer selected – nearly six out of every 10 issues brought between 1998 and 2008.

“We welcome a frank and open discussion about the merits of PA 312,” Buczek and Docherty said. “We think that when all the facts are examined, the simple conclusion will be that binding arbitration provides taxpayers with an exceptional value and peace of mind.”

But first we need your help THIS Saturday!

In an effort to gain some advance publicity on our opposition to the repeal of PA 312, the House Democratic caucus has scheduled rally’s in Grand Rapids and Dearborn for Saturday, February 19th at 3:12 pm. It is very important that we get a large turn-out for both of these rallys. All you have to do is show up. Bring your families and friends. Make some home made signs that show your support for PA 312!

A flyer is attached for both the Dearborn rally and the Grand Rapids rally. We need YOU to show up.

Please show your support for PA 312 by attending one of these events.

Download:
GrandRapidsandDearborn312Rallys.pdf