RBLandmark.com has an article about a motion filed in court to terminate the contract with firefighters in North Riverside:
The village of North Riverside filed a motion in Cook County Circuit Court on Monday, asking Judge Diane J. Larsen to rule that it has the authority to summarily terminate its contract with North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714 and allow it to privatize the department on Dec. 5.
The motion comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by the village on Sept. 12 asking for the same right to terminate its union contract with firefighters, which expired April 30.
“At issue here is the simple reality that contracts do not exist in perpetuity,” said North Riverside’s attorney, Burt Odelson, in a press release issued Monday morning. “They have a finite start and end date, unless extended by mutual agreement of the parties.”
Both sides will appear in court Wednesday for a status hearing. At that hearing, Odelson said he will ask Larsen to seek a quick response from the union to the village’s motion. The judge may or may not honor that request. The firefighters union still has not filed its answer to the original lawsuit. J. Dale Berry, the attorney for Firefighters Local 2714, must file that response by Oct. 17.
The village contends that the two sides are at an impasse after several rounds of contract negotiations, including ones in the presence of a federal mediator. Those bargaining sessions, says the village, were held in good faith.
The Sept. 12 lawsuit doesn’t ask the judge to consider anything but the village’s argument that, after bargaining in good faith and reaching an impasse, the village ought to be allowed to summarily terminate its contract with the union. The village notes in its motion for summary judgment that even though it has given firefighters 60 days’ notice, it will not move to terminate the contract on Dec. 5 without a judge’s order.
But the firefighters union argues that the village did not bargain in good faith. On Sept. 19, the union filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the Illinois Labor Relations Board against North Riverside, charging that the village had no interest in negotiating a new agreement and engaged merely in “surface bargaining.”
The complaint states that the village never intended to bargain in good faith, as evidenced by a letter sent to residents by Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr. on June 18, outlining the village’s plan to privatize the fire department. The first negotiating session between the village and firefighters was held June 24.
In addition, on Sept. 19, the union filed a demand for compulsory interest arbitration with the Illinois Labor Relations Board, demanding an arbitrator be chosen to settle the contract dispute.
However, on Monday, Odelson told the Landmark that the village will not participate in the arbitration process. “There’s nothing to arbitrate. The contract has expired,” Odelson said. If interest arbitration moves forward anyway, said Odelson, the village would seek to stay that action in court.
If the court rules in favor of the village, it could send shock waves through the state’s public employee unions. Such a ruling would seemingly make it possible for a municipality to terminate its union contracts when they expire with 60-days’ written notice.
Meanwhile on Oct. 2, the Illinois Department of Insurance delivered its findings regarding a meeting with village officials on June 26. At that meeting, the Department of Insurance ordered the village to show cause as to why it had not made required contributions to the police and fire pension funds in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. During that time, the village had underfunded its pension contributions by $5.2 million. In its ruling, the Department of Insurance ruled that the village failed to provide a sufficient reason for not making the contributions and ordered the village to submit “evidence of compliance” to the department within 30 days.
Since North Riverside does not have $5.2 to contribute to the funds, it likely will have to pay a $2,000 fine. More importantly, if the village fails to come into compliance by 2016, the state can begin to deduct up to one-third of its sales tax revenues from the village’s general fund to bring the village into compliance.
“The state is putting enormous pressure on municipalities to fully fund their public pension obligations. North Riverside is not the only community that does not and will not have the millions of dollars that will be required,” Odelson said in the press release. “Elected municipal leaders must have the ability to make legal and rational decisions that maintain vital services without being forced to declare bankruptcy.”
thanks Dan
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#1 by Jim on October 16, 2014 - 8:30 PM
JC,
You might want to talk to Union officials from North Riverside about becoming firefighter/paramedics. I believe that has been offered in the past as a way to save money on your taxes but the Village officials do not want this to happen. You may also want to ask the Village officials why they have not been paying into the pension system? If they have been levying a tax for it but not putting the money in, that would be fraud if done in the private sector. While it is easy to use firefighters as scapegoats, one must look below the surface to look for answers. While all of these headlines may try to stir up public support, they come at a cost in the form of lawyers fees and court costs. You should be demanding both sides to come back to the bargaining table to solve this problem.
#2 by Drew Smith on October 15, 2014 - 10:39 PM
The most recent ISO grading schedule published in 2012 evaluates the initial and ongoing training of all firefighters. If each FF has the minimum basic training and maintains the minimum annual training then maximum credit is awarded. ISO makes no determination as to what constitutes experienced or professional. In fact, a group of unpaid volunteers who staff a station receive more credit than sworn full time members who must be recalled when off duty to achieve a complete initial alarm assignment. Reference: Fire Suppression Rating Schedule Item 570 on pages 31-33 and Item 580 on pages 34-37.
#3 by Chuck on October 15, 2014 - 8:56 PM
JC, your questionable intelligence (I would call it ignorance, but I’m trying to be nice,) is amazing. You are either a North Riverside shill, clueless about how the Fire Service actually works, or sadly, both. Your property values will go down (and your insurance costs will go UP,) when the underwriters look at the changes being made and realize that there are no longer experienced, professional firefighters protecting the town of North Riverside
#4 by JC on October 15, 2014 - 11:14 AM
Hey Jerry how are my property values going to go down? There will still be fire fighters in the station, just not over priced union firefighters. If contract medics are so bad why wont the union firefighters become medics? I as a tax payer use the contract medics and feel they are very professional. Sometimes a fire engine does not even go on a call, what are they waiting for a fire?
#5 by Jerry Hughes on October 11, 2014 - 9:46 AM
I love how Odelson crys foul over being put “….under enormous pressure… to fully fund their public pension obligations.” The only reason the State is stepping in is to make sure the Mayor and his board of “Trustees” pay their bills on time. Going forward all they really have to do is show some measure of compliance (ie start funding the Firefighters pension in 2014 at 2014 levels). But what does Odelson do? Instead of admitting that the town on North Riverside has carelessly failed to pay its bills Odelson decides to make an attempt at termination of the Firefighters Union contract. This is a TACTIC to see if he can get public support for blaming the union firefighters for the underfunding of the pension. It’s called BLAME SHIFTING and if he succeeds he will also succeed in the devaluation of of property values in North Riverside. Mayor Odelson is a blight on the community of North Riverside and should be removed from office for his participation in causing a financial crisis that could have been easily averted by paying into the Firefighters Pension when the bill were due in the first place.
#6 by Rudy on October 9, 2014 - 9:43 PM
And the Chief should also be terminated, if all of his firefighters are let go, but that won’t happen.
#7 by Dennis on October 8, 2014 - 4:33 PM
It was the villages’ obligation to pay into the pension just the same as it’s the firefighter’s duty to pay into it also. The firefighter’s did their part and now the village is crying foul. Too bad they should have paid into it in the first place then they would not be in this position. All these city’s/villages’ that are crying about this did nothing but cause this themselves. Its no different then if I had a credit card that I charged $2000.00 on then when it came to the due date I start crying because I don’t have the money to pay it off. Too bad I should have been paying on it in the first place.
The village board of North Riverside has no problem paying to buy all new squad cars for the police department or spending at least & 20,000.00 to put lights all over them but they want to get rid of the fire dept. What a JOKE, the resident’s of North Riverside should stand up and demand the removal of all those on the board including the mayor for putting the village in this financial situation.