Posted by Dennis Herrick on February 06, 2010 at 16:26:41:
Letters to the Editor Fosters Daily Democrat - Feb. 6, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Declining the award
To the editor: The Rochester Joint Loss Committee informed me that I've been selected as "Employee of the Month" for February, which includes lunch with City Manager John Scruton. I appreciate the gesture, however, I decline the award for the following reasons.
Mr. Scruton has engaged in actions, including but not limited to contract negotiations that has demoralized the members of the fire department from top to bottom.
There are two crucial issues that have had an unfortunate psychological impact upon the Rochester Fire Department.
First is the Mr. Scruton's use of the 24 hour schedule as a bargaining chip to induce the members of Local 1451 to accept a substandard health care plan. He knows that the year long experiment with a 24-hour shift schedule was very popular with the firefighters. In difficult financial times, it was an effective, cost neutral benefit that buoyed our spirits. Mr. Scruton informed Chief Sanborn that he would be withdrawing from this agreement last year to gain advantage in negotiations. He chose this tact instead of relying on the power of persuasive, superior argument to achieve his goals. It cost the City nothing to partner with Local 1451 in a 24 hour schedule. To withdraw is, in our view, capricious and cynical in the extreme.
Second is the concern within the fire department over Mr. Scruton's intentions regarding possible cuts in staffing. Already, Chief Sanborn has submitted a budget that eliminates the entire call force. That, we fear, is only the beginning. Mr. Scruton advised the city council not to allow Chief Sanborn to pursue a grant under the Safer Act that provides funding for an additional firefighter, saying during a December council meeting that the grant would "lock in staffing at the fire department and prevent any reductions in staff for the duration of the grant."
Mr. Scruton exhibits a fundamental misunderstanding of the requirements of the fire department by failing to recognize the single most important tool necessary for safe, effective fire and rescue operations; manpower. Reducing personnel makes a dangerous job even more dangerous.
This isn't an issue, as some city councilors have stated, to have all departments share the pain of reduced personnel. The fire department's most important asset in dangerous fire and rescue activities is the ability to provide enough personnel during the vital first moments of an emergency, before any outside mutual aid departments, if they're available, could respond. Reducing that ability is the definition of penny wise and pound-foolish.
Simply stated, I cannot sit down over lunch with the City Manager and make polite small talk knowing that where things really matter, he would use an issue like the 24 hour shift schedule to manipulate dedicated employees, and that he apparently has no qualm making our job more dangerous than it already is.
The members of the Rochester Fire Department don't ask for much. We give a lot. But we have a fundamental objection to being treated callously and then being thrown tokens of appreciation that carry little meaning.
I'm proud to be a professional firefighter with the City of Rochester, working with the finest men and women I've ever known in my 25 year career. We'll continue to provide the highest level of service to the City of Rochester, regardless of how the City Manager conducts relations with the fire department.
Don McCullough
Dover