Jefferson Fire Fighters Association

SALARY AND OVERTIME ISSUES

Jefferson Parish proposes to eliminate fire personnel's customary 5% annual increases currently received by all Jefferson Parish employees and plans to see only fire personnel reduced to 2% annual increases.

After receiving only $16.00 per month (a 1.5% increase in their pay plan) from 1990-2007, Jefferson’s East Bank Consolidated firefighters finally saw their pay plan adjusted in January 2007, amounting to a 35% increase. Fire personnel saw their incomes shrink by approximately 82% due to inflation during the 17 year period.

A salary study review ordered by Parish President Aaron Broussard addressing substandard wages for fire personnel, was extensive in scope and included surveys from more than 20 similarly sized fire departments in the southern region of the United States. The pay study, authorized prior to Hurricane Katrina, was finally concluded in October 2006. 

The salary study was provided by L-Staff, a certified employee compensation management company. The reviewer thoroughly researched and provided recommendations in a comprehensive report.  Jefferson Fire Fighters Association President Robert Burkett along with Parish President Aaron Broussard had agreed to accept and enact the findings of the study. The new pay plan was unanimously adopted by the Jefferson Parish Council with an effective date of January 1, 2007.  

In 1976 East Bank Consolidated fire personnel were confronted with similar injustices of reductions from a 5%, to the State required 2%, minimal annual increases. Jefferson Fire Fighters Association, led by former president Tom West, filed suit seeking relief in court demanding the protections of Louisiana State Fire Civil Service. (West versus Allen)  When former Parish President Joe Yenni was elected, he agreed to look into this reduction and promised to restore the annual 5% raises, if his investigation revealed Eastbank Consolidated firefighters had been treated unfairly. In 1980 he fulfilled his promise to reinstitute the 5% raises.

And now, 33 years later, freelancing, incompetent Jefferson Parish Fire administrators led by Interim Fire Director Dave Saunders, suggest again, without warning or conducting any studies, the same dramatic reduction in the firefighter’s current pay plan, less than two years after its revision.

This proposal is obviously a retaliatory action against firefighters for having the courage to speak out about safety issues, unwise spending, planning, neglect, bad decisions, and a basic mismanagement of the fire department.  On April 7, 2008, Jefferson Fire Fighters Association appealed in writing to Jefferson Parish President Broussard, the Council and administrators for assistance in correcting firefighter issues.  They were informed of serious challenges that would negatively impact emergency services and the general public, who are dependent on the protection of the fire department.   A committee of active rank and file personnel was established to collect a delineation of concerns for submission to the Parish officials.  

The members of the Jefferson Fire Fighters Association have appealed to the administrators responsible for both causing and neglecting the members’ concerns; however, Interim Director Dave Saunders and CAA Deano Bonano have proved unwilling and unable to correct the flawed management of the Eastbank Consolidated Fire Department.  

 

Fire administrators are advertising grossly inflated East Jefferson fire salaries. Beginning with Hurricane Katrina, higher annual incomes occured because of the unprecedented availability of unscheduled overtime. FEMA reimbursed Jefferson Parish for unscheduled overtime during Hurricane Katrina, and its aftermath. Now, fire administrators are including similarly unscheduled, additional overtime hours to escalate the customary scheduled overtime costs; they fail to mention that many of the additional unscheduled overtime costs were repaid to the department by outside agencies, and in some instances, Eastbank Consolidated Fire Department realized a profit when they billed for unscheduled overtime. Failing to hire personnel by administrators, continued the need to utilize fire personnel for excessive amounts of unscheduled overtime.

Firefighters were called on to help Jefferson Parish fill positions for fire watches, inspections, dispatching, and manning fire stations during training classes. Surprisingly, none of these overtime hours were used to avoid shutting down first line fire apparatus when manpower was short.

Bogus attempts to mislead the public are alarming enough, but Jefferson Parish administrators refused to hire firefighters to fill openings for almost 3 years, which is in violation of Civil Service regulations.  Mismanagement caused fire crews to operate 19 positions short, amounting to approximately 10% of the fire suppression work force. The actual average salary calculations on display by Jefferson Parish are skewed by the elimination of 10% of the lowest salaried employees and the inclusion of a tremendous amount of unscheduled overtime.