FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                   CONTACT: David Nabity

Wednesday, January 13, 2010                                                            (402) 618-6759

OAPS CALLS ON MAYOR, COUNCIL TO THROW OUT CURRENT FIRE UNION CONTRACT, HIRE NEW NEGOTIATION TEAM FOR CITY

Group Questions Management Decisions by Current Fire Department Leaders

(Omaha, NE) – The Omaha Alliance for the Private Sector (OAPS) today said that the City of Omaha has lost control over the management of Omaha’s Fire Department and called on Omaha’s Mayor and City Council to throw out the current Fire Union Contract and hire a new negotiating team.  The Omaha Alliance made the request at a news conference at the Omaha Press Club Wednesday morning.

“Over the past two decades, through several administrations and city councils, and through several leaders of the Omaha Fire Union, the authority to regulate Omaha’s Fire Department has been methodically – and, we assume, intentionally – shifted from Omaha’s city ordinances into the Fire Union Contract itself,” said David Nabity, spokesman for OAPS.  “This was by no accident.”

“The Fire Union Contract approved in 2007 continued this process of taking the power away from the Mayor, the City Council, the Fire Chief – and the people of Omaha themselves – and locking it into the Fire Union Contract where, once approved, can not be changed until a new contract is negotiated.  Not by ordinance, not by petition of the people, perhaps not even by a directive of the Office of Homeland Security,” Nabity said.

“No one who negotiated the 2007 contract should be involved in any current or future negotiations for the city, especially if they were ever a member of the fire union.   The Omaha Alliance for the Private Sector calls upon the Mayor and the City Council to appoint an independent negotiator to stand for the taxpayers’ best interest; Someone who knows how to interpret these legal contracts and someone who receives no personal benefit either directly or indirectly from these negotiations,” Nabity said.

Rick Bettger, Board Secretary for OAPS, mentioned several provisions in the current union contract that are unrealistic in today’s economy.  Bettger pointed out that Omaha’s Fire Union Contract contains 171 pages full of provisions that tie the hands of management and prevent the city from taking reasonable steps to reduce costs during a city budget shortfall.  Bettger noted that Des Moines’ contract is only 32 pages, St. Paul has 37 pages and Lincoln’s Fire Union Contract is only 55.  All of these cities are included on the state’s “comparable” list from the Commission for Industrial Relations.  Bettger pointed out that it is clear Omaha’s Fire Union Contract is micromanaging the Fire Department and preventing any real reforms or budget cuts from taking place.

“These provisions show some of the parts of this contract that just don’t measure up to the current economic reality being faced by Omaha’s citizens or by the stresses being placed on Omaha’s city budget and Omaha taxpayers,” Nabity said.  “Fire Department management has not embraced the recent Commission of Industrial Relations (CIR) ruling that allows them to make staffing and management changes.  It’s common knowledge that the Fire Department is $4 million over budget.  With the CIR ruling, the Fire Department could have made the changes necessary to bring the Fire Department in within budget.  This demonstrates that Fire Department leadership has not made genuine efforts to cut inefficiencies and redundancies in the department.  And that can no longer be tolerated.,” Nabity said.

“The Omaha Alliance for the Private Sector is asking the citizens of Omaha to say ‘enough is enough.’  Call the Mayor and your City Council representative and tell them to start over.  Start over with this contract by replacing the current negotiation team, engage an independent negotiator and force the management changes within the Fire Department that will save significant tax dollars.”

Click here for PDF version.

COMPARABLE FIRE UNION CONTRACT LENGTH

City                                           Pages                   Word count

Des Moines                                32                          10,000

St. Paul, MN                               37                          13,000

Lincoln                                       55                          22,000

Omaha                                    171                          56,000

MINIMUM EQUIPMENT AND STAFFING REQUIREMENTS IN CURRENT CONTRACT

• 23 Engine Companies
• 10 Arial Companies
• 13 Advance Life Support Medic Units
• 1 Special OPS Team named “Heavy Rescue No. 1
• 3 Paramedic  EMS Shift Supervisors with 1 Paramedic EMS Shift Supervisor assigned to each shift
• 21 Battalion Chiefs with 7 Assigned to each shift
• 150 Captains with 50 Captains assigned to each shift
• 105 FAE’s with 35 assigned to each shift
• 314 Firefighters assigned to Suppression Duty with 105 to each shift, etc.

BUDGET EFFICIENCIES (OWH Editorial, 8-18-09)
Unfreeze it, City Council
Omaha’s municipal leaders need the same flexibility to pursue efficiencies in the Fire Department as with all other departments of city government. This is a sound, common-sense principle in general, and it’s nothing short of impera­tive in the face of the city’s current budget chal­lenges.
The City Council would do well to repeal the 2000 city ordinance on Fire Department operations. That ordinance freezes the status quo in place for a wide variety of operational matters, including not just the endless debate over fire-truck staffing but also such matters as the type and number of vehicles as well as the number of firehouses.
Modification of the ordinance is possible only with the approval of the fire union and the fire chief. Re­peal of the ordinance, not surprisingly, is again on the council’s agenda.
As long as the ordinance remains in place, council members will have only limited options, and too of­ten only blunt instruments, to seek efficiencies in the department’s operations.
The fire union, Mayor Jim Suttle and council mem­bers opposing repeal are going to find it difficult to justify retaining such an unusual and restrictive ordinance at a time when taxpayers are understand­ably wanting city leaders to explore all reasonable options to address the budget crisis.
As we’ve noted before: “It would be wrong to un­dermine the fire union’s legitimate bargaining rights, just as it would be wrong to turn the Fire Depart­ment inside-out. But common sense says the city government ought to have the leeway to examine the full range of efficiencies in all departments, especial­ly given the magnitude of the current fiscal crisis.”
Repeal deserves a “yes” vote today.

Omaha Alliance for the Private Sector: an Alliance to free the Private Sector from excessive government!

Many of Omaha’s entrepreneurs are finding themselves fighting to survive due to over taxation, excessive mandates, obstructive government policies, restrictive local governments and flawed government policies that destroy economic activity.

Although many of the Chambers of Commerce are doing a great job of promoting new projects and communicating with elected officials to be more business friendly, a new active force that represents those who make the city’s economy healthy is desperately needed to change the balance of political power in the state. The special interest groups, unions that support government employees and organizations that push for more state spending have been driving the agenda of the city by manipulating elected officials and voters to support their self-serving strategies.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners from all areas of the city need to band together to fight a new battle to modernize and streamline Omaha’s government. OAPS recognizes that if business is expanding in one area of the city, it is good for the whole metropolitan area.  And, if businesses are being stifled or restricted due to flawed government policies or actions in one area of the city, it is bad for the whole region.

Omaha’s government must have a sense of what it takes to compete in the 21st Century. Old regulations, policies and systems must be analyzed and then modernized on an annual basis so that we become more efficient and reduce taxes on all citizens of the state.

The Omaha Alliance for the Private Sector (OAPS) will work to become a major influence on city policy and procedures by doing the following:

Creating a forum to bring entrepreneurs and small business owners from the entire metropolitan area together to begin to understand the burdens of the group as a whole, the areas where we are put in a difficult position of competing with other cities, and areas where we must band together to protect the economic interests of the state from:

1. Excessive taxation.
2. State and Federal policies that confiscate property and stop economic activity.
3. City policies that unreasonably increase the cost of doing business.
4. Mandates that are redundant and inefficient.
5. City agreements with other cities and entities that unfairly punish Omaha’s economic interests.
6. Government systems that unreasonably increase the cost of doing business.

OAPS will also work to identify the new areas of economic opportunity and present action plans for the members who have an interest in launching new ventures that promote new economic activity

Finally, OAPS will raise the necessary funds to create a large reserve that will be used to reward the elected officials that support the agenda of the organization and work to replace those candidates that maintain the status quo or work against our agenda.  OAPS hopes to serve as a balance to the powerful union and government forces who now have so much control over public decision making.