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TEXAS CITY PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 1259 |
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The bumper sticker states the reason the Union has decided to come forward with this Website.
The apparent lack of concern over issues presented by Firefighters, while Mayor Matthew T. Doyle has been in office, is disheartening and unfair at best. The treatment of Firefighters by Chief Joseph Gorman has been czar like at best and has managed to bring morale to the lowest level the department has ever seen. Gorman's actions here have not been positive ones at all. His actions are retaliatory and based on disciplining Firefighters for the simple reason of disciplining in an attempt to show management that Texas City Firefighters are a poor group of employees.
The only recourse for Firefighters to have these issues addressed is apparently through the court system, which is a financial burden for everyone involved.
With the documents posted here for all to read, you will see the truth of the actions of the Mayor, Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief.
The below link is a lawsuit that our Union Lawyer Craig Deats had to file to compel the City to Arbitration and to force them to abide by our Grievance Language in our Contract. It seems that Mayor Doyle does not wish to arbitrate our Grievances. He would instead wish to force us to Court with the below lawsuit, wasting tax payers money.
The case number is 10CV1205 and has been filed. It is Texas City Firefighters Association vs City of Texas City.
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The Lawsuit below is a Federal Lawsuit which shows the City has been violating the Firefighters Fair Labors Standard Act (FLSA) rights.
This lawsuit is actually two fold.
It covers compensation that has not been paid by the City for working overtime. The City failed to pay Firefighters their Longevity and Incentive pay when they worked overtime. The City only paid overtime at the Firefighters base pay.
The second part is the City has forced Firefighters to sign a "volunteer form" so when said Firefighters attended classes or training off duty, they were not compensated for it. If the training or classes are required by the City to maintain occupational certificates for their employment, then FLSA Law is that the City compensate the firefighters for off duty training. A Firefighter cannot sign away their rights with this form.
Mayor Doyle has stated several times that he wishes he could be paid for off duty training and states this as if it is a perk. He fails to realize that it is FLSA Law and that the Police Officers are paid for off duty training. So why does he treat us different?
The case number is 10CV176 and is in the Federal Court system. It is Allen vs City of Texas City
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Here is a report from dispatch on a fire we had on May 14, 2010. It was sent to us by dispatch due to the tone Chief Gorman was using and his line of questioning. The text highlighted shows the part pertaining to Gorman. The narrative starts form the bottom and goes up, so it can get confusing to read.
At 12:11:19 you can see where Engine 21 assumed command upon arriving on scene.
At 12:27:16 you can see where Gorman asked dispatch if Engine 21 is command. When dispatch advised him that they assumed command upon arrival, Gorman advised dispatch that they did not and told dispatch "You need to ask them right now what I am saying and I mean now."
So dispatch asked Engine 21 and they confirmed they had already assumed command of the location.
So was Gorman looking to find fault in this fire incident so he could discipline someone again? He was not even on scene, yet he seemed to know or at least believe that Engine 21 did not assume command upon arrival.
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The International Association of Firefighters sent this letter to Mayor Matthew Doyle, City Commissioners, Mike Land, Dee Ann Haney, Donald Singleton, J. W. Wilson, and Dedrick Johnson and the City Attorney.
This letter was in regards to a hire in program Chief Gorman sets up and now wants to use on all Texas City Firefighters, regardless of age and time in service.
A little background on the test as it relates to Texas City Fire Department. Former Chief Grimm instituted the Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT) as a hire in test for new recruits. The City held a license to run the CPAT and was held to the regulations of that license.
Chief Grimm violated the license numerous times.
"In our ongoing effort to ensure that the CPAT is being used properly and only as intended, we have enacted a reporting and investigation program that can be used by anyone who identifies deficiencies in CPAT implementation. Reportable problems could include but are not limited to jurisdictions utilizing the CPAT as an employment requirement without proper licensure, jurisdictions altering CPAT events in a manner inconsistent with the CPAT manual, or jurisdictions utilizing the CPAT for the purpose of testing incumbent fire fighters. The name of anyone reporting a violation will remain strictly confidential."
The license was revoked from the City due to Chief Grimm violations, the equipment was stored away and sold off.
The test Chief Gorman has in place now is one that has been used for a hire in test by Texas City for about two years now. It appears to be substantially similar to the CPAT test. Plus as stated above, the CPAT test cannot be used to test incumbent fire fighters.
Letter from the International warning the City.
Here is the latest Wellness/Fitness Policy Revision 6
This revision came out after the City received the letter from the International. All changes are bolded.
Under Section 1 - Scope on page 2 of 10 it has been changed from this, which was in Revision 5.
1.1.1 The Texas City Fire Department has adopted The Fire Service Joint Labor Management Wellness/Fitness Initiative in basic principle as recommended by the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the International Association of Firefighters.
Now Section 1 - Scope states this:
Section 1 - Scope
1.1.1 The Texas City Fire Department has developed this program using information contained in NFPA 1582 along with essential job tasks relevant solely to the Texas City Fire Department. NFPA Standards are, by design, minimum standards and nothing contained in NFPA 1582 is intended to restrict any jurisdiction from exceeding the minimum requirements as stipulated in 1.2.3 of the Standard.
This change took place along with other changes in the Policy on June 9, 2010.
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