Monthly Union meetings are held the 3rd Monday of the month at your Union Hall located at 4005 N Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando FL 32805. The meetings alternate from Daytime meetings starting at 9:00am to Nighttime meetings starting at 7:00pm.
2023 Calendar
January 23rd 7:00pm
February 20th 9:00am
March 20th 7:00pm
April 17th 9:00am
May 15th 7:00pm
June 19th 9:00am
July 17th 7:00pm
August 21st 9:00am
September 18th 7:00pm
October 16th 9:00am
November 20th 7:00pm (Nominations for Office)
December 18th 9:00am (Elections)
The IAFF has gathered information to be shared for all of our members to review and educate all on how to respond and what precautions to take. Please follow the link below:
On February 21, 2019 the IAFF Executive Board approved the request made from your Local to declare Fitch & Associates, LLC of Platte City, Missouri as a rival to the IAFF.
Fitch & Associates, LLC of Platte City, Missouri is now deemed, effective February 21, 2019, as a rival organization pursuant to Article XV, Section 2 of the IAFF Constitution and By-Laws. In conjunction with this, Fitch & Associates, LLC will be added to the rival organization list on the IAFF.ORG website.
Brothers and Sisters,
As you are all aware, the department has decided to move forward the Civilian Transport Program. For the last several months, members of the Executive Board have approached the Fire Department Administration to attempt to gain insight on the program. Each time, the administration advised that they would meet with the Local to provide a better understanding of the program, however, these meetings provided more questions than answers and more skepticism than encouragement.
Several weeks ago, the administration made the unilateral decision to take the firefighting equipment off of the Jump Over units. The effect of this change was a reduction in fire staffing each time these units were placed in service. Prior to the change, members of Local 1365 could still respond to all calls for service, structure fires included, while on the Jump Over units. By taking the equipment off, Chief Williams has reduced the amount of fire fighters that were available to respond to fires. A grievance was filed by President Glass, on behalf of Local 1365, to address the staffing changes. In response, Fire Chief Williams informed President Glass that it was not the intent of the program to utilize FOB personnel on Jump Over units when they were not being staffed by PMO’s. However, there has been no directive from the administration that bargaining unit members will not be staffing the units. In fact, many of you have been told by your respective EMS-1 Chiefs that we are still responsible for staffing these units.
On Thursday February 7th, 5 members of your Local 1365 Executive Board (President Glass, VP Bernoska, Treasurer Zabin, Secretary Sisko and Business Agent Benitez) attended the quarterly scheduled Labor/Management meeting. Management representatives included Fire Chief Williams, Deputy Chief Davis and Kevin Preston. The meeting lasted for just over an hour with only 3 items being addressed. The topics of discussion included the PMO program, bunker gear, and a small conversation about hiring new dual certified firefighters to fill current and future openings due to retirements. The following is a detailed review of the discussed topics.
PMO Program:
We began the labor/management meeting with questions to Fire Chief Williams specific to the PMO program. Our initial questions were related to the subject mentioned above seeking a clarification to whether or not members of Local 1365 would be required to staff jump over units that no longer carried firefighting equipment. Chief Williams stated that is their belief that the Jump Overs will no longer be needed, and that only in “extreme cases” will our members be required to staff them. The Executive Boards position on this is that if our members are expected to reduce Engine staffing in order to put a Jump Over in service then the Jump Over needs to be equipped with firefighting equipment.
The Local then asked the departments position on using bargaining unit members to meet the staffing requirements of the civilian units. Once again, Fire Chief Williams reiterated that it was not the intent of the PMO program to utilize any personnel other than those civilians hired to work on the designated medic units. In fact, the chief further stated that PMO’s would be forced to work mandatory overtime prior to our members being considered for the medic units. Upon hearing this stance, a discussion ensued about Local 1365 members being hired OT to back fill on a medic unit that morning. The administration advised that they were not aware of any firefighters working as the second person on a civilian unit. Kevin Preston, informed everyone in the room that this was either a simple roster mistake or a “test” on how names for medic units will be reflected on future rosters. In order to avoid confusion, Secretary Sisko exited the room and retrieved a copy of the roster so that we could get clarification on the issue. It was once again stated by Kevin Preston that the roster was incorrect and that the firefighter was operating as the FTO for the two civilians. After contacting the firefighter, it was learned that he was, if fact, operating as a paramedic with one civilian employee. Despite the assurances from Chief Williams that this would not occur, the administration allowed this to happen and, when questioned about it, attempted to deflect and hide the fact that it was occurring. As you can imagine, these actions did nothing to enhance the tone of the meeting.
The current position from the Executive Board is that due to the administrations lack of inclusiveness, information, and policies on the subject of “PMO / Medic Units that bargaining members should only be placed on apparatus with other members that are covered by the collective bargaining agreement.
After consulting our attorney, we believe any changes effecting our terms and conditions of employment must be made in the form of “impact bargaining” or through the collective bargaining process (contract negotiations).
After speaking further with the administration, it was learned that the intent of the department is to hire part time personnel to assist with the staffing of the civilian units. So, for those that are asking about the ability to work overtime on the civilian units, I would encourage you to look at the big picture. You would be working for only a period of time that would allow the department to train someone to do a portion of your job cheaper. Coupling this with the administrations secrecy and lack of inclusiveness, the Executive Board is not able to endorse this process yet. We have offered to include language that protects or current staffing and allows for future growth of the Civil Service and civilian members of the department but, so far, there has been no response from the city.
Bunker Gear:
On the subject of bunker gear, the Local has been receiving a multitude of phone calls regarding the bunker gear that the Fire Chief has chosen. Local 1365 questioned the Fire Chief on this subject and he replied that he did take into consideration the bunker gear committee’s “opinions” but felt it was better to go with the gear providing the best thermal protection for our members. The current collective bargaining agreement states that the Health and Safety committee evaluates “existing equipment and changes in specifications for protective clothing and safety equipment.” Had this article been followed, Health and Safety members would have been made aware of the Bunker Gear testing committees recommendations in a timely fashion and been afforded the opportunity to make additional recommendations regarding our protective gear. Instead, the Health and Safety committee was neglected and the recommendation of the Bunker Gear committee was disregarded in order to purchase the bunker gear selected by the chief.
Local 1365 will be filing a grievance for not following the proper procedures under the requirements of the health and safety article of the contract. While we have spoken to many members of the Bunker Gear Testing committee, we welcome input from any committee member with regards to the selection of the bunker gear.
New Hires:
As mentioned in the heading of this update the subject of new hires was briefly discussed. Local 1365 requested an update on the status and future of new hires due to large number of vacancies that have or will be occurring due to retirements. Fire Chief Williams pledged that he will continue to fill FOB vacancies in accordance to his allotted staffing numbers. All things considered, some good news!!!
Your Executive Board will continue to meet with Fire Department and City Hall administration to correct some of the above stated issues. We will keep you informed of any changes. Please stay safe and do your best to attend the next Union Meeting on 2/18 @ 09:00 a.m.
Fraternally,
Ron Glass
President
IAFF Local 1365
February 2, 2019
Brothers and Sisters,
I am writing to inform you of recent developments with the Peer Support Team. I want you to know first and foremost that seeing firsthand the way that you all have embraced this initiative and the way that you have come together to take care of our members who may be struggling is nothing short of amazing. This is the reason that the Orlando Firefighters are a world class group of individuals.
As you may know, your Peer Support Team has had trouble gaining traction through the official channels within the City. This is what initially led us to form through the Benevolent Association. And I do believe that organizing in that manner was and is in everyone’s best interest. In that time, the men and women on this team have worked tirelessly to provide resources, outlets and support to our members that may be struggling. We have also become a resource for departments outside of ours to use when they experience horrific tragedies and become overwhelmed. We have helped establish teams locally and across the state by providing operating procedures, guidelines and idea sharing. We have a member that has a master’s degree in psychology and is also a master instructor through the IAFF. But most importantly, we have worked to build a trust in this membership. A membership that is so willing to help their brothers and sisters in need.
This leads into the purpose of this letter. Recently it was decided by this team to resign from any official duties within the City of Orlando. This was not an easy decision and it was a decision that was based on events that in our opinion were leading to a path that had potential to do more harm than good.
I am writing this to ultimately let you know that we are still functioning but in a slightly more indirect capacity. We will still continue to research best practices, find and attempt to connect the best resources and still be here should you or anyone you know need any assistance through a difficult time. We will however not be acting as the city’s CISM team.
The Union has a created a Secondary Time Bank designed to support the Peer Support Team and the Benevolent. Each member is eligible to donate up to 5 hours of sick leave per year to help support these groups. This is a small amount per person but one that can add up quickly. I urge you all to look into donating to this bank whatever time you are able to.
Please contact anyone on the team if you have any questions for us. Again, I can’t thank you all enough for how much you do for each other day in and day out. Please take care of yourselves and each other.
OFFBA Peer Support Team
We have surveyed a number of Workday personnel profiles and can determine the City has made the compensation change to roll EMT compensation into base pay on 12/30/18. This will be reflected on the check that you will be receiving this friday Jan 18th. Below are the new Pay Tables that reflect the rolling of the EMT compensation into Base pay and what your hourly rate should be depending on what Step you are in on the table. The EMT compensation incentive equates to additional $1.30 per hour to your base pay.
Should you have sold back any Vacation, Personal Leave, or worked workback the City will have to calculate retro for all those hours since September 23, 2018.
(EMT $ Roll In $3,259.62) | |||
Step | Annual | 48hrs | 40hrs |
P | $51,370.39 | $20.58 | $24.70 |
1 | $53,654.45 | $21.50 | $25.80 |
2 | $56,101.35 | $22.48 | $26.97 |
3 | $59,200.66 | $23.72 | $28.46 |
4 | $62,134.83 | $24.89 | $29.87 |
5 | $65,071.30 | $26.07 | $31.28 |
6 | $68,332.26 | $27.38 | $32.85 |
7 | $71,594.40 | $28.68 | $34.42 |
8 | $73,388.85 | $29.40 | $35.28 |
9 | $76,718.92 | $30.74 | $36.88 |
9-A | $78,188.11 | $31.33 | $37.59 |
9-B | $79,686.68 | $31.93 | $38.31 |
21 | $65,723.75 | $26.33 | $31.60 | Promotional Step Grade 4 | ||
22 | $68,657.90 | $27.51 | $33.01 | Promotional Step Grade 5 | ||
23 | $71,758.38 | $28.75 | $34.50 | Promotional Step Grade 6 | ||
24 | $75,018.16 | $30.06 | $36.07 | Promotional Step Grade 7 | ||
25 | $78,444.26 | $31.43 | $37.71 | Promotional Step Grade 8 | ||
26 | $80,565.52 | $32.28 | $38.73 | Promotional Step Grade 9 | ||
27 | $84,235.27 | $33.75 | $40.50 | |||
27-A | $85,854.78 | $34.40 | $41.28 | |||
27-B | $86,680.73 | $34.73 | $41.67 |
32 | $71,758.38 | $28.75 | $34.50 | Promotional Step Grade 22 | ||
33 | $75,344.95 | $30.19 | $36.22 | Promotional Step Grade 23 | ||
34 | $78,932.70 | $31.62 | $37.95 | Promotional Step Grade 24 | ||
35 | $82,683.26 | $33.13 | $39.75 | Promotional Step Grade 25 | ||
36 | $86,433.84 | $34.63 | $41.55 | Promotional Step Grade 26 | ||
37 | $88,717.91 | $35.54 | $42.65 | Promotional Step Grade 27 | ||
38 | $92,778.87 | $37.17 | $44.61 | |||
38-A (2%) | $94,569.26 | $37.89 | $45.47 | |||
38-B (1%) | $95,482.35 | $38.25 | $45.90 |
(EMT $ Roll In $3,259.62) | |||
Annual | 48hr | 40hr | |
1 | $99,004.84 | $39.67 | $47.60 |
2 | $100,885.80 | $40.42 | $48.50 |
3 | $102,848.04 | $41.21 | $49.45 |
4 | $104,882.95 | $42.02 | $50.42 |
5 | $106,906.31 | $42.83 | $51.40 |
6 | $108,984.71 | $43.66 | $52.40 |
7 | $111,049.08 | $44.49 | $53.39 |
8 | $113,217.34 | $45.36 | $54.43 |
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