Tulsa World: Firefighters OK contract with furlough days

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Firefighters OK contract with furlough days

By PAUL TYRRELL World assistant city editor
Published: 7/11/2009 7:45 PM
Last Modified: 7/11/2009 7:45 PM

Tulsa firefighters agreed to a contract that includes eight furlough days, preserving their ranks and joining police officers and other city workers in feeling the pinch of a tight city budget.

Members of Tulsa Firefighters Local 176 approved a new contract, 328-176, in voting that ran from Thursday through Saturday evening.

Local 176 President Stan May said most of the no votes had to do with proposed reorganization of the department and other contract issues.

“Had it been concerning the furloughs only, it would have passed by 95 percent,” May said. “The firefighters had no problem with that. They recognized the situation the city is in and what they had to do.”

If the contract had not been approved, the department would have lost roughly 42 of its 685 firefighters.

When the city and the police and fire unions announced that contract negotiations had been successfully concluded, Fire Chief Allen LaCroix said the furloughs would be carried out carefully to maintain required staffing levels but to prevent overtime.

In voting earlier this week, members of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93 overwhelmingly approved a new contract with the furlough days.

Mayor Kathy Taylor originally proposed a $578 million budget for the fiscal year that started July 1 but had to trim that to roughly $567 million because of plummeting revenue before the City Council finalized the spending plan last month.

The extra cuts meant bumping the number of furlough days for all city employees from four to eight. The mayor made it clear that she wanted all employee groups to share in the burden.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1180, which represents many other city labor groups, also has agreed to the furloughs.

By PAUL TYRRELL World assistant city editor

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "Firefighters OK contract," which was published on 7/12/2009. So far, 15 comments have been made.