Mayor asks council to reject contract his team negotiated with Cleveland firefighters
How does this happen?
Cleveland firefighters and the city’s negotiating team recently came to terms on a contract that the firefighters then ratified. All that is left is for the Cleveland City Council to vote on the contract. Anyone in labor or management who has ever been involved in hammering out a collective bargaining agreement knows what an accomplishment that is and that it usually involves a great deal of compromise and cooperation to get to that point. So, you have to be a bit puzzled by what happened in Cleveland today (Monday).
Edward Eckart, the assistant safety director for Mayor Frank Jackson, told council members to vote against the contract that was negotiated and approved by Mayor Jackson’s administration. Eckart is asking for this unusual move because the administration is having second thoughts on its agreement to remove a longstanding provision that allows the immediate firing of any firefighter convicted of domestic violence. That part of the contract held firefighters to a standard not required of any other city employees, including police officers.
To stop the contract the council has to do more than just vote no. A no vote means the contract can still take effect automatically. The council is considering legislation that rejects the contract and sends both sides back to the table.
Eckart said the city’s negotiating team initially felt that the contract contained other policies that gave the administration the power to suspend, demote or terminate an employee for committing domestic violence. But since the union voted to ratify the new contract nearly two weeks ago, the administration has had the chance to “work through the details of the overall agreement” and decided the language was too watered down.
He said the administration has tried to approach the union about revisiting that portion of the contract but has heard no response.
Several council members said they generally support a hard line against domestic violence, but they took issue with the fact that no other union contract in the city includes the zero-tolerance policy. Even police officers, who could no longer carry a firearm under state law if convicted of domestic violence, are not subject to immediate dismissal, per their union contract.
