This article about Lancaster City’s firefighters is so one-sided that it is sickening. There is no mention of the verbal abuse and blatantly retaliatory actions which has been piled onto Lancaster’s finest over the past year; every single one of the 27 grievances filed by firefighters is based on something that actually happened.
Neither does this article mention that firefighters are being asked to work an average of six additional hours every week without any extra pay. The proposed schedule would require them to work 24 hours on duty and 48 hours off; this would leave firefighters physically and mentally exhausted after a busy day. How would you like to be rescued from a burning building in the middle of the night by firefighters who are struggling to keep moving?
Nor is there any mention that the it was the city that broke off negotiations with the firefighters, specifically over staffing issues; the city is refusing to guarantee a minimum safe number of firefighters on duty at any time. And the reference to the alternative which would have cost more is because the firefighters were seeking PARTIAL pay for the six hours extra they would be working for free under the administration’s plan.
I say it’s time for you to find a new job. This proposed schedule is one that many fire departments across the country have implemented. Those firefighters aren’t whining like a bunch of teenage girls.
The pay and retirement deal that the firefighters in Lancaster have is one of the highest in the nation. Please step aside, get a job at your local minit market. They will give you regular hours.
There are many capable and willing young men and women who can and will quickly step into your job. I can’t wait until the research that is being done about how little the firefighters actually work hits the press. Stay tuned!
“The six hours extra they would be working for free” would regularly include time spent sleeping, eating and watching TV. They would be “working” only when servicing equipment or on a fire call.
Once again Lancaster Newspapers and the Rick Gray administration fabricate information to defame the city firefighters.
Let’s look back a few short months ago, shall we?
Remember that whole kerfuffle with Manheim Township, and the alleged “harassment” of volunteer firefighters by city firefighters? Remember when Rick Gray said he was planning a lawsuit against the firefighters union?
What ever happened to that? No one has been disciplined, no lawsuits have been filed… the story just vanished into thin air.
Why?
Because it was all HOT AIR from Rick Gray and Tim Gregg. Manheim Township’s firefighters approached MT fire chief Rick Kane and expressed concerns with the staffing and operations of the city fire department. Union firefighters from departments like Prince George’s County (MD) and Washington D.C., who also happen to volunteer at M.T.F.D. said that they were uncomfortable coming to the city and doing the work of the city fire department in a half-assed, under staffed and poorly equipped manner. So M.T.F.D. suspended the mutual aid agreement.
This was certainly a black eye to the Gray administration, and their plans to hack away at the city fire department until there were only 40-45 firefighters on the job. So Rick went to the newspaper and ginned up a false story accusing the city firefighters of misconduct. It didn’t hurt that this story broke while negotiations were taking place between the union and the city over the schedule change. Rick will without doubt try to pull the misconduct card during the upcoming contract arbitration. Mark my words.
Now the newspaper throws out this new story about the firefighters voting “no confidence” in the fire chief…
The irony of this recent newspaper story is that the Union HAS NOT held a “no confidence” vote on Gregg. In fact, the union hasn’t even met on the issue yet. Their next monthly meeting isn’t until Thursday March 10. So unless LNP has some magic ball that lets them see into the future, they are making things up.
And to the Anonymous poster above; It is disturbing to me that people like you reading this website would even suggest that a worker in this country, be it a steel worker, lawyer, teacher, doctor or firefighter should for any reason be made to work for free. The Gray administration has demanded that firefighters adopt a schedule change that would result in firefighters working over 300 hours annually without compensation. We don’t live in China. This is America. When people go to work, they should be paid, not be expected to work almost a full 8 hour day without compensation. Get over your anti-union schtick and think like a reasonable person. You wouldn’t work more than a month for free, why should they?
Many employees in the private sector have their schedules and responsibilites adjusted or changed based on the needs of their employer. It’s only the public sector union employees that whine like teenage girls when the municipality that they are bleeding dry tries to rationalize its operations.
The suggestion that you or any employee would be working for “free” is ridiculous… Your pay and benefit deal is one of the best in the country. The hours that a paid Lancaster city firefighter actually spends “working” is very small.
To have your schedule changed so that you work additional hours and still receive your very generous pay and benefit package seems a much better solution than having further layoffs. But I guess it’s only a “brotherhood” until it affects the senior union members!
Again, I encourage you to resign and go find a job in the private sector. There are many, many capable young men and women who would love to have the generous pay and benefit deal you have as a Lancaster City firefighter.