Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

Elgin Association of Firefighters Local 439 has filed a grievance with the city and a lawsuit in Kane County to stop the city from cutting staffing levels until an arbitrator makes a decision.

The firefighters union says decreasing staffing from 34 to 32 firefighters per shift — a move approved by the city council to save $700,000 in overtime costs starting in 2018 — would cause irreparable harm to firefighters and pose significant risk to residents.

City officials dispute that, saying the proposed cut is all about efficiency.

The union filed the grievance Dec. 21. As per its contract, grievances first are filed with an assistant fire chief. The union then can appeal a negative response to the fire chief, then to the city manager, and then take it to arbitration.

The union also filed a lawsuit and emergency motion for a temporary restraining order on Dec. 22 in Kane County seeking to maintain staffing levels until the issue is decided in arbitration. The city agreed Tuesday in court to wait until Jan. 3, when the matter will be heard by a judge.

The cut would reduce on-shift staffing to 33 firefighters and a battalion chief across seven fire stations, with no layoffs. Stations 1 and 2 would go from six to five firefighters per shift, with a change in how jump companies operate.

Crews at those two fire stations currently jump between an ambulance and ladder truck depending on the call. Under the change, two firefighters would staff an ambulance and three would jump into either an engine or truck.

That would increase by two the ambulances available full-time. The fire service has changed and roughly 75 percent of calls are for ambulance services, Fire Chief Dave Schmidt said earlier this month.

Union officials claim data shows firefighters’ injuries have increased since 2005, when the department switched to a high-overtime model. Data verified from the city’s risk management department shows that is not true, and that the discrepancy is due to methodology and will be addressed moving forward.

thanks Dan