Click Here to subscribe.
MI cities allowed more leeway to lay off firefighters
Detroit Free Press (July 24, 2008)Jul. 24--In opinions released Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court gave mayors in financially challenged Detroit and Pontiac more freedom to lay off firefighters and, in the case of Detroit, to restructure its fire department.
The immediate impact of the rulings was unclear.
Denise Tolliver, a spokeswoman for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, said the mayor and Fire Commissioner Tyrone Scott "will have to sit down and decide what to do. We might not have to restructure the fire department."
In separate cases brought by unions representing firefighters, the court found that proposed layoffs intended to ease budget deficits in each city should not have been blocked by lower courts, even when firefighter safety might be an issue. The decisions, 6-1 for Detroit and 4-3 for Pontiac, dissolve injunctions issued by judges in Wayne and Oakland counties that prevented the layoffs.
The Detroit Fire Fighters Association sued in 2005 to block Kilpatrick'sfire department restructuring plan, saying the plan would affect safety and was subject to bargaining. But the Supreme Court concluded the law requires bargaining only when the proposed change is "inextricably intertwined with safety."
Kilpatrick and Scott described their plan three years ago as an effort to run a smaller, more efficient department, which is one of the nation's busiest. It called for the layoffs of 65 firefighters and the permanent deactivation of five fire rigs, plus the demotion of 10 battalion chiefs, who supervise at most fires.
Fire union President Dan McNamara said he would respond to the decision after a union board meeting scheduled for today..
In Pontiac, the city had sought to lay off 28 firefighters, a move the union said would financially harm its members and jeopardize safety. The Supreme Court, however, said the potential for economic harm did not justify an injunction, and that "real and imminent danger" resulting from the layoffs had not been adequately proved.
Pontiac officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Pontiac fire union President Rick Luxon said firefighters have a no-layoff rule in their contract and a minimum-manning clause in the city charter.
"You never know with Pontiac what you're going to see," he said. "They decimated the police department."
Contact BILL McGRAW at bmcgraw@freepress.com.
-----
To see more of the Detroit Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.freep.com
Copyright (c) 2008, Detroit Free Press
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
