Contract Update - We had a formal bargaining session last Thursday, January 19th. Talks are proceeding slower than we expected but we continue to make steady progress towards a settlement. We have waited 3 years to settle our contact, and I ask for the membership's patience as we continue to negotiate. There are many rumors in the field that contact talks broke down and we are moving towards arbitration. I want to reassure the membership that this is completely false. We expect to settle our contract at the collective bargaining table. We will not be making any statements regarding our negotiations, as we never negotiate in the media. As soon as we have any information we will notify the membership.

EMS at Battalion 49 – Since July, the UFOA has attempted to negotiate EMS productivity in good faith. After almost five months of waiting, Commissioner Scoppetta notified Labor Relations Commissioner Jim Hanley on December 30 th that the Department was taking the EMS issue off the table. That certainly is their right. We responded by filing an Improper Practice with the Office of Collective Bargaining. Our IP included:

We demand the right to bargain over any additional workload placed on our members due to EMS/fire joint facilities.

We demand a joint facilities policy from the Department (We have requested this policy for 14 months and now at Labor Management Meetings with no reply from the Department).

Our Chief officers have been investigating EMS accidents without compensation.

The Department has known for over a year that the EMS facilities at Astoria General (now Mt. Sinai Hospital, Astoria) would have to close. They never met with the UFA, UFOA or the EMS unions to discuss their plans for Engine 262.

This past Tuesday, January 24 th , Commissioner Scoppetta met with the UFOA and the UFA and told us that EMS was moving to Engine 262. Apparently, the Commissioner feels he can ignore our IP and New York City Collective Bargaining Law. We informed him that we would seek remedy with the Office of Collective Bargaining and/or the courts to demand that he bargain with the UFOA before he moves EMS to any firehouse. I notified Pat Bankhen, President of the EMT's and Paramedics union and Tom Eppinger, President of the EMS Lieutenants' and Captains' union. As usual, Commissioner Scoppetta did not invite them to the meeting. According to the Commissioner, this move must be made by March 15, 2006.

Response Times - Six members of the UFOA Executive Board met with Commissioner Scoppetta and his Staff Chiefs on Tuesday, January 10. Very politely, very firmly, Commissioner Scoppetta threatened to go to war with the UFOA if response times to Structural Fires did not come down significantly by the end of January. He threatened to transfer as many as eight chiefs and a captain if the response time results did not meet his expectations (which he did not specify).

Very politely, and very firmly, the UFOA told him if he wanted a war, he would certainly get one.

The members need to know what is going on here. The Tuesday meeting was a continuation of a meeting on November 22. The Commissioner made similar threats to transfer superior officers where the Department's statisticians alleged “poor performance” in respect to response times. But the UFOA protested they were reacting to high numbers in October, which was not only the rainiest October in the history of the Weather Bureau, but a month that recorded an astounding 6,400 more fire incidents than the Department answered in October 2004. At the end of that meeting, Commissioner Scoppetta agreed to hold off on disciplinary action until our data could be analyzed, and the November results were finalized.

Structural fire responses fell seven seconds in November from the October results, from 4:43 to 4:36. The decline continued in December, this time by another second, to 4:35.

But instead of recognizing that October was an aberration, and recognizing that we were moving in the right direction, on January 6 the Commissioner decided to scapegoat one Bronx battalion chief, with a promise of wholesale transfers by the end of January if he doesn't have his way.

We told him a lot of things about the apparent causes of increased response times, but none of it mattered.

(1) It didn't matter that he closed six engine companies in May, 2003.

(2) It didn't matter that the FDNY answered more than 482,000 calls for help last year, a new record by far, surpassing the 459,567 incidents in 1977.

(3) It didn't matter that we set new records in 2005 for Medical Emergencies (approximately 202,000) and Non-Medical Emergencies (approximately 197,000).

(4) It didn't matter that we responded to more than 28,000 Structural Fires in 2005, the highest level in five years.

(5) It didn't matter that we responded to approximately 3,300 Serious Fires in 2005, the highest level in six years.

(6) It didn't matter that civilian deaths have averaged 101 in the last four years, the lowest four-year total anyone can remember.

(7) It didn't matter that the two unions worked with the Department in a Safe Driving campaign that has dramatically reduced vehicular accidents.

(8) It didn't matter that response times to Structural Fires, Medical Emergencies and Total Incidents have come down since the Safe Driver campaign began February 2, 2005.

(9) It didn't matter when we bluntly told the Commissioner he was pushing for a return to the old days when some chauffeurs did not drive as safely as they should. The UFOA told him in no uncertain terms he may want to go back to those days, but we do not.

(10) And it didn't matter to him that apparatus accidents are down 22% since 2003.

Those are the facts, published by the FDNY on its web site every month. Structural Fire response time in December was 4 minutes and 35 seconds (4:35). That's 17 seconds higher than a 3-year average of 4:18 that Commissioner Scoppetta has developed as his baseline for comparisons. Average response time to all incidents in December was 4:57, which was 10 seconds higher than the Commissioner's new baseline. Response times to Medical Emergencies in December were 4:33, or only 6 seconds higher than the 3-year average (2002-04).

The remainder of this report is our own conclusion. The six Executive Board members present at the January 10 meeting with Commissioner Scoppetta and his chiefs were joined by UFOA attorney Ron Shechtman and Government Relations person Marty Steadman. All of us came away from the meeting with the distinct impression that Commissioner Scoppetta has embarked on a plan to demonize the superior officers of the Fire Department, in an attempt to shift the blame for higher response times to Structural Fires onto our members. All of us came away from the meeting with a belief that the Department is planning further budget cuts for the FDNY and needs to find scapegoats for their own failures.

That game plan will not work. The Commissioner started the war when he unceremoniously lifted one Battalion Chief, accompanied by a threat to blame a dozen more superior officers. The UFOA will defend any and all of the members who are his chosen scapegoats, and in a way I'm glad he decided to initiate the fight. It's been simmering for a long time, and maybe it's good that we have it out now. One thing is certain---we will be here when he is gone.

Labor Management -

• The Denial of Chiefs' Comp. Time Requests –We filed a Step III grievance over the failure of the Fire Department to establish any policy or means permitting members to use their comp. time on a timely and equitable basis. A hearing was held on January 10, 2006 and is being advanced as an Improper Practice.
• Non-Emergency Appearances in Violation of the UFOA Contract - We have filed a Step III grievance over the assignment of certain members off-the-chart on no basis permitted by the contract to non-emergency duties (e.g., training). A hearing was held on January 10, 2006 and will be advanced as an Improper Practice.

The following Improper Practices were filed:

• Meal Period IP - The Department unilaterally changed the allowed responses during meal period to include CFR-D runs, in violation of the UFOA Collective Bargaining Agreement;
• EMS IP – We have filed an improper practice charge that the assignment of supervisory responsibilities for EMS staff is a fundamental change in the job descriptions of bargaining unit positions, on which the City is required to negotiate. The Department has required certain Fire Officers to supervise EMS personnel, and to investigate accidents involving EMS ambulances, duties which are beyond the scope of current UFOA Collective Bargaining Agreement and has refused to negotiate over such requirements.

Issues to be discussed at the next Labor Management Committee meeting include:

• The excessive number of units placed OOS each day for training etc.;
• The excessive number of ABC's and ADC's, on particular tours.

Voluntary Assignments – In light of the current administrations attitude toward all fire officers and our current Improper Practice on Chief officers compensatory time, the UFOA is taking a position that all Chief and company officers should refrain from volunteering for any duty outside their regularly scheduled tour until these issues have been resolved. This is especially true for all chief officers who have no real expectation of recovering their earned comp time. The lone exception to this policy will be the current PSS training, which the UFOA fully endorses. If any members have questions or are ordered to perform any duty outside of your regularly scheduled tour, please notify your UFOA representative ASAP.

FIREPAC – The IAFF and the UFOA are working together to encourage our members to donate to FIREPAC through a dues check-off. Please see attached letter and dues deduction form.

MDA Week –The UFOA and UFA will be sponsoring our 1 st “$1 per man per meal week” to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. This event will be held the week of January 29-February 4 in every firehouse, Bureau of Training, Ft. Totten, Headquarters, UFOA and UFA offices. Posters and a letter from both union presidents will be handed out today. We encourage all UFOA and UFA members to participate. MDA Representative Erin Grayon and FDNY Lt. Peter Kearney are here to discuss MDA week and answer any questions you may have about how our members can help.

Gear Bags – The UFOA filed a Public Employee Safety and Health (PESH) complaint over a year ago regarding the issuance of gear bags. The complaint was sustained last July and the Fire Department has not complied with the order. The FDNY is in violation but has requested a 180-day extension. The FDNY claims the gear bag has been selected but the holdup is financing. As an interim, the FDNY will send out a memo informing all members of the availability of “3 ply single use plastic garbage bags”. This is unacceptable. If any company receives these bags, please call a member of the Safety Committee (Jim McGowan, John Dunne, George Belnavis).

Notice of Participation in the World Trade Center Rescue, Recovery or Clean-Up Operations - If you have not received your affidavit from the FDNY and you may qualify for the provisions of the WTC Bill, please call 718-999-7041 or 718-999-0148. The form must be completed, notarized and filed with the Fire Department Pension Fund, Subchapter II by June 14, 2007. It is highly recommended that you send this form by Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested, as verification of filing and keep a copy of the form for your records. There is a copy of this Affidavit and the instructions on our website. If you are not sure if you qualify, you should still fill out this form. There are a limited number of copies available at today's meeting.

Firefighter Matthew Long – Members wishing to donate blood in support of Firefighter Matthew Long are encouraged to do so at area blood centers. PLEASE DO NOT GO TO NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL TO DONATE BLOOD. To donate, call 1-800-933-2566 or visit www.nybloodcenter.org to schedule an appointment. FDNY MEMBERS SHOULD USE GROUP #43369 to identify themselves when donating.

Prior Service Buyback Pension Seminars – The Uniformed Pension Bureau will be conducting 3 seminars in the month of January for Prior Service Buyback. Seminars will be held at FDNY Headquarters, Main Auditorium from 10:00am-1:00pm. Please refer to Department Order No. 113, dated 12/29/05, or call Timica Wilson at 718-999-1201 or Natalia Zorina at 718-999-0690 for further information.

Centennial Celebration – E 83/L 29 will be hosting a centennial celebration on February 1, 2006 at 11:00am, in quarters, 618 East 138 Street, Bronx. Collation immediately following at St. Luke's Church, located across the street from quarters. Please RSVP before 1/25/06 to 718-430-0283.

Legal Proceedings

VSF Action - The retirees' have filed a notice of appeal from the adverse decision of the U.S. District Court.

1127 Federal Litigation –Judge Barbara Jones has made no determination on our litigation.

Administrative Proceedings

Battalion and Division Commander IP - Further proceedings to be scheduled.

Administrative Fire Marshals - No change.