McAllen’s fire, police contracts should be similar, officials say

By Dave Hendricks in The McAllen Monitor
Police, firefighters and two outside lawyers will rework the city’s union contracts this summer, haggling over everything from salaries to shifts. The contracts cover roughly the same ground. But their differences help explain recent turmoil within the fire department, which has flooded the city’s civil service commission with complaints, while the police department has remained drama free.

“I think it’s important that the two unions have the same contract,” said James Selman, a lawyer who conducted two wide-ranging investigations into discord at the fire department.

Those investigations, ordered by the commission, concluded that several provisions in the firefighter’s contract hamper the fire chief’s ability to manage his department.

McAllen’s four-year contract with unionized police officers and three-year contract with unionized firefighters both expire Oct. 1.

Neither the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2602 nor the lawyer McAllen hired to negotiate its new contract responded to a request for comment for this article. The president of the police union and the attorney representing McAllen in its contract negotiations with officers declined to comment.

And while it’s unclear whether the city intends during upcoming negotiations to limit the questionable provisions within the firefighters’ contract — contained in a section on personnel transfers — current language allows union members to effectively veto the chief’s decisions, according to Selman’s 2009 report.

The document details how in May 2009 Lt. Marcos Hernandez, a union official, fought the chief’s decision to transfer him from a ladder truck to fire prevention, a desk job.
Hernandez, an older lieutenant close to retirement, was at least 70 pounds overweight at the time and had undergone three back surgeries, according to the report. He had earned a fire inspector certification and had been trained as a plans inspector.

Unhappy that the transfer would limit his opportunity for overtime pay, he pushed to return to the ladder truck, citing seniority.

Over the next few months, he “steadfastly refused to conduct plans inspections and refused to accept in-house training or assistance,” according to the report. He also filed a slew of complaints and grievances against the chief, eventually sparking a Civil Service Commission investigation. The probe found Hernandez’s complaints to be unfounded, but only after he had been granted a transfer back to his old job.

“Hernandez’s refusal to obey orders and filing of multiple grievances with this Commission was ultimately successful from Hernandez’s point of view,” according to the report. “Rather than discipline (him) for gross insubordination and disobedience of orders,” the chief allowed him to transfer back.

He was later transferred again to fire prevention and once again complained to the commission. Hernandez, like all other union firefighters, isn’t allowed to talk about matters related to the contract during negotiations.

Though the police contract contains the same sections, that contract gives the police chief much more authority and limits complaints.

The contracts also differ on the amount of paid leave allotted for union business and the handling of union conventions. McAllen covers the expenses of firefighters who attend union conventions, but doesn’t offer the same deal to police. In 2008, four firefighters who attended a union convention in Las Vegas billed the city more than $7,000. If a police officer wants to attend a union convention, he must pay his own way.

Firefighters and police also receive different amounts of paid time to conduct union business.

Mark Walker, a civil service commission member, said he couldn’t recall a single complaint from the police department during his tenure on the panel.

“I regret the dirty laundry has to be aired,” he said. “We really felt we didn’t have a choice but to look into the dirty laundry hamper and see what was the best way to get it cleaned and pressed.”