Crawfordsville Professional Firefighter's Contract Update

Over the last few months, you have heard about and seen articles that reference the Crawfordsville Professional Firefighters. Most recently you would have seen articles pertaining to the Crawfordsville City Council voting not to enter into an agreement with the Firefighter's Union. Given this information, we (the Crawfordsville Professional Firefighter's Union) would like to take a moment of your time and try to help the community better understand the process that has taken place as it pertains to this situation.

In 2001, the Crawfordsville Professional Firefighter's Union was formed and became formally recognized by the International Association of Firefighters becoming Local #4143. Since that time, the Local has evolved into a well organized body (consisting of 38 Active members and 4 Retired members) that serves not only the needs of its members and department, but the community as well. The purpose of the Firefighter's Union is to help better communicate the needs of its members through one voice as it pertains to increased safety for the firefighters and EMS personnel, maintaining safe working conditions, and maintenance of benefits. Along with being the sole voice for the firefighters, the Local also contributes to the community in many ways outside the typical emergency type response. For many years the Local has done extensive work with groups such as Crawfordsville pre and elementary schools with fire prevention programs, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Over the last 12 months, our local has raised and donated over $12,000 to charities within our community including two college scholarships to high school seniors from within Montgomery County.

In our community, there appears to be many ideas and stigmas that are attached to the term Union. When most think of a union, they think of trade unions such as the Teamsters, Auto Workers, Steel Workers, Carpenters, etc., and normally picture employees standing outside their place of employment on strike fighting for more money, or they picture the union as a safety blanket to keep sub-par employees employed. Not only is this not true of typical unions, but the International Association of Firefighters operates MUCH different than traditional trade unions. We are unable to strike, we do not have the ability to refuse to come into work, we do not have the ability to stage a walkout, and (most importantly) our contracts are written in a way that allows the governmental body to void the contract should they declare a financial emergency.

In February the Crawfordsville Professional Firefighter's Union met with Mayor Coons, Fire Chief Eric Small and City Attorney Peebles and presented them with a draft of a contract we were hoping to modify to meet the needs of the city as well as the union which we would then present for approval by the Crawfordsville City Council and Board of Public Works and Safety. This draft was based solely on our current Crawfordsville Fire Department handbook (or current practice) as established by the Crawfordsville Board of Public Works and Safety with the exception of three articles. This contract did not request money. No pay raises, better benefits, increased retirement contributions, more time off, etc. were requested. It primarily put into writing our current practices for the sole purpose of maintaining safety and consistency. That meeting was viewed as a success by all parties present. The modified document which came from that meeting was taken to the members of the Crawfordsville Professional Firefighter's Union where it was voted on and passed unanimously. Since that time, the document was presented to the Crawfordsville City Council and the Board of Public Works and Safety and was met with a seemingly unfavorable response.

Since the membership approved document was presented, the contract was tabled in March and April, then voted down in May by the City Council. The Board of Public Works and Safety has tabled the contract for March, April, and May. In late March, President Jake Lowe of the Crawfordsville Professional Firefighter's Union contacted each of the seven city council members to attempt to set a meeting with them at their convenience regarding their contention to the document with hope of coming to a conclusion that was conducive to all parties. Of the seven council members, two agreed to a sit down meeting and one responded stating that they did not believe that meeting would sway their opinion regarding the contract process. We were also told by one of the council members that the problem is not the document that is their problem as much as the idea of unionization.

The members of the Local 4143, our families, friends, and those in the community who have had their lives effected by the responses of the Crawfordsville Fire Department, believe that given the gravity of our job and the impact that our job has on the community, the safety of our personnel and the safety of our working conditions deserve more attention than it has received with regards to this document.

We hope that by bringing this situation to the public, you're better able to understand the need for a formal agreement between the City of Crawfordsville and the Crawfordsville Professional Firefighters.

Respectfully,

Crawfordsville Professional Firefighter's Local 4143
Executive Board