False alarms, true conceit
What world are Boston’s firefighters living in?
Across the city - across the entire country - people are hurting. Those of us lucky enough to keep jobs have seen our paychecks slashed. We’re taking calculators to the supermarket, vacationing at home, wondering how long our savings will last.
And yet here is Firefighters Local 718 holding out for raises and benefits totaling between 21 and 24 percent over five years, depending on whom you’re asking - the city or the union.
The city had offered firefighters 14 percent over four years in 2007 - just what the police got - and the union shot it down. After the economy tanked last fall, the city amended its offer, offering 10.5 percent over three years.
That looks sweet to me. Especially when you consider that the average Boston firefighter makes about $85,000 a year, higher ranking officers $115,000.
Still, it’s no surprise Boston’s firefighters expect better. Like spoiled children, they’ve grown accustomed to getting their way.
Certainly, Mayor Tom Menino has caved in to them plenty in the past, after their public campaigns against him. In 2001, he freed them to use the “king for a day’’ rule, which allows those who claim an injury while acting in a superior’s position the right to disability benefits at the higher pay grade - even if they do the superior’s job for only a day.
So the firefighters have declared war again. Last week, they protested the commissioner’s decision to shut down fire companies for a day to avoid ballooning overtime costs when too many firefighters call in sick. Even though city watchdogs said the closures weren’t unusual and didn’t endanger residents, union president Ed Kelly and his members gave out fliers in South Boston that read, “You and your family are in DANGER. Mayor Menino is gambling with your lives!’’
That kind of tactic has worked in the past. What Kelly and his members don’t seem to realize, however, is that these are different times. Not just for the economy, but for firefighters, whose heroism has, too often, been overshadowed by scandal in recent years.
Their image has slipped. Consider the results of a Globe mayoral poll in May that asked respondents what effect the firefighters endorsement of City Councilor Michael Flaherty would have. Twice as many said it would make them less likely to vote for Flaherty as said it would make them more likely to back him.
Firefighters have come to symbolize pension abuse, making so many iffy disability claims that the FBI is investigating. Last year, 76 percent of firefighters who retired did so on disability, earning tax-free pensions. Nearly half of them claimed career-ending injuries while working out of grade. Lawmakers recently shut down the king for a day outrage, and there was a stampede to retire before the new rules kicked in.
If abuse happens, their argument goes, blame the mayor. He opened the door. They’re just walking through it. “The flaws in the Fire Department are management flaws,’’ Kelly said outside a South Boston firehouse on Thursday. “Those firefighters are exercising their rights under the law. Is that illegal?’’
Well, no, it isn’t, assuming the claims are genuine. But it sure makes them look bad.
The union’s reluctance to submit to drug and alcohol testing without compensation makes them look worse. Making sure firefighters are sober in potentially deadly situations should not be a matter for bargaining.
Kelly doesn’t seem to get that, and a lot of other things. Ask him why his firefighters deserve so much more while the rest of us are making do with less and his answer is simple: because the city can afford it. But since it’s our money the city would be spending, what he’s really saying is we can afford it.
We can’t. If Kelly lived in our world, he’d know that.
Yvonne Abraham is a Globe columnist. Her e-mail address is Abraham@globe.com. 