Firefighters turn up heat in pay flap

The Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts held a rally in Stoughton dubbing the town ‘‘unpatriotic’’ over a pay dispute involving a firefighter deployed in Iraq with the National Guard. Kurt Simpson, a Sharon firefighter, held his daughter Erica during the rally. Below, helmets from supporters. (Globe Staff Photo / Jonathan Wiggs)

The sea of red T-shirts is long gone, and the television news crews have packed up and moved on. But since Friday, when a firefighters' rally declared Stoughton the most "unpatriotic" town in the country, there has been no settlement in a union dispute over pay for a fire captain deployed to Iraq.

Firefighters called the rally a last resort to raise awareness of the town's failure to pay Captain Douglas Campbell, who went to Iraq in January with the Massachusetts Air National Guard.

But the rally, attended by more than 100 firefighters from across the state, seems to have only aggravated the standoff with town officials - who say they are happy to pay Campbell the difference between his National Guard salary and his firefighter's wages. The only sticking point is disagreement with the union over how to calculate his base pay.

Town officials say that must be worked out before they can send a check to Campbell's family. In the meantime, firefighters have been filling Campbell's shifts so that his family gets his pay and keeps his health insurance.

With no new offer on the table, "Where does it go from here?" asked Peter Denneno, president of the local firefighters' union.

"Obviously, we've got some serious problems," Denneno said. "We've been going around in circles, ridiculous arguments going back and forth."

At stake are both Campbell's pay and the town's reputation.

Campbell, 45, a two-decade veteran of the Fire Department, deployed to Iraq with the Massachusetts Air National Guard in January. Under state law, the town is required only to preserve his job and time of service for when he returns. But state law also allows towns to choose to pay the difference between an employee's base salary and the salary he receives from the military.

Town voters in Hingham, Rockland, Weymouth, and Bridgewater, among others, have invoked the paid-difference provision by vote at special town meetings. Stoughton had not, but selectmen agreed - per a 2001 policy they adopted - to follow the provision anyway, and pay Campbell the difference between his military salary and his town salary, as well as his medical benefits. Town officials consider his base salary $63,000, but union officials argue the pay should include fringe benefits included in the labor contract, including his clothing allowance, longevity pay and stipends for support equipment. The total of all fringe benefit payments amounts to some $7,000, town officials estimate.

Union officials say they are looking only to preserve what Campbell is allowed under his contract. But Richard Levine, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, says the town cannot afford to honor the fringe benefits for someone not working, particularly when the town is not required to pay anything.

Union officials said the town should go ahead and pay Campbell based on the town's interpretation of base pay, and the two sides can argue about the additional $7,000 later. But town officials said they cannot take that chance because any payment that isn't permitted under the existing contract with the firefighters could be grounds for a later grievance.

"We'd be subject to an unfair labor practice," said Mark Stankiewicz, the town manager. "We have Captain Campbell, and we have a contract."

Both sides attempted to negotiate over the past two months, when Campbell deployed. The town agreed it would pay the difference between the $63,000 annual town salary and the $40,000 or so that Campbell receives from the military, as well as some fringe benefits. The union then made a counteroffer, and the town made its own offer after that.

Michael Pazyra, the town veterans' agent, said he has started researching what other towns in the area have done.

The union warned the town that it would hold the rally unless an agreement were made. Levine responded that the town "will not be bullied into making a decision by the union's setting of artificial deadlines and threats of press conferences."

Town leaders, and residents, blasted the union for putting Stoughton under the spotlight with the stigma of being the "most unpatriotic" in the country. Firefighters said they were accused of being liars, and greedy.

Whether negotiations resume is uncertain. "In my opinion, we weren't at a dead end," Stankiewicz said. But he also said the rally did nothing to help settle differences, adding "you can't negotiate through the media."

Milton J. Valencia can be reached at valencia@globe.com.