TOLEDO, Ohio -
The Bell administration is still trying to work out a new contract with its fire and police unions, but there's a snag. The unions say, the two sides are no longer talking.
The administration ordered union negotiators back to work. Now, a fact-finder will try to work out a solution.
The contracts for Toledo's safety units expired at the end of 2011. Negotiations with the fire the police unions have been going for months.
None of the parties will go into details, but generally, the mayor wants to save money with cut backs on health care and pension pick-ups. The Toledo Police Patrolman's Association says mayor Mike Bell (I-Toledo) is playing hardball. "We're looking at an administration that's looking for permanent givebacks at a time when we've increased our revenue for the city," TPPA union president Dan Wagner told 13abc, today.
Wagner says since his union and the city have not reached a deal, a fact finder will get involved. Wagner told 13abc reporter Bill Hormann, "I think we're going to be able to prove that the city's in a better financial situation than they are letting the citizens of Toledo believe they are."
Right now, three unions are bargaining for a new deal with the city; fire, police and the police command officers association. Each is going to a fact finder which is very unusual. But Dan Wagner thinks he knows why a third party is getting involved.@
Wagner believes mayor Bell, who supported Issue Two, is trying to impose concessions on city worker unions with his hardline negotiating stance even though voters rejected that approach, in November.
Wagner says his opinion of a man he's known for years, has changed. "Do I trust him? How do I say this? I don't believe he's the same person I knew a few years back."
Wagner says the man who once ran the fire department was a fair man, a characteristic Wagner does not believe applies, now.
The fire union has not gone to a fact finder for contract issues since 1997, but this year, a fact finder *will* get involved. And last year, Local 7 struggled to reach a contract deal with the mayor.
A spokesman for the City told us today, a deal like the one Local 7 agreed to, is a "representation of the direction the city needs to move toward.," meaning the police union needs to make contract concessions. But the TPPA's president says the Local 7 deal doesn't work for police.
The 202 budget that just passed council assumes savings from the fire and police contracts. Without those savings, the budget could be out of balance by several million dollars.
The fire, police and police command unions to three different fact finders, later this month.
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