Sixteen firefighters in North Las Vegas received pink slips Wednesday.
Ironically, the news came the same day the firefighters union paid for a full page newspaper ad addressing the importance of avoiding layoffs.
Was that just a coincidence? It turns out that city leaders didn’t like what they saw in the ad.
North Las Vegas Councilman Richard Cherchio says the full-page, black-and-white ad is misleading because of its image and content.
“This is pretty much what we’re asked to do: We’re being asked to accept something that is unsustainable, unreasonable. This particular picture is of a building back east. I didn’t recognize it being anything here in Nevada.”
Councilman Cherchio says the union will defer their cost of living adjustments, or COLA, and will start accepting it again in 2013, with interest.
But Firefighters Union President Jeff Hurley says this isn’t the case and that the council is misinformed. He argues that the city is playing a dangerous game laying off any firefighters.
“It’s imperative that we save these firefighters. If we don’t save these firefighters, we’re talking about increased response times.”
Hurley says the union is willing to offer more than $3 million in concessions over the next several years. However, the city is asking for more concessions – almost $2 million – this year alone.
“In my mind, what appears to be the stumbling block is the unwillingness of the leadership over here to actually give something back without any strings attached to it. Conditions.”
For the time being, sixteen firefighters are still out of a job. And it doesn’t appear that the city and the union will strike a deal anytime soon.
According to Hurley, the firefighters’ contract with the city is up in 2015.
Source: mynews3.
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