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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 great example showing that the Fire Chief is about nothing more than discipline.
Every Firefighter has to memorize the "assignment" by July 6th or face discipline, which is clearly stated in the last line.
Also, nothing has been changed, this is exactly how the Chief sent it out. If you notice, for some reason he needs to put the small "x" in TCFD. As if he needs to remind himself that the "T" stands for Texas.
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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 lawsuit below is the direct result of David Zacherl, Assistant Chief and a paid Union member of Local 1259.
This LINK is what the Kaiser Machine looks like. Back in 2001-2002 a few of us firefighters got together and formed a Combat Firefighter Challenge Team. The Chief at the time, Gerald Grimm donated each of us a set of bunker gear to compete in. That is as far as the City went in helping us out. He told Alex Amieva that the City does not want to get involved anymore than that, but good luck with the team.
So we solicited donations for other equipment we needed and one piece was the Kaiser Sled. Mark Pandanell took detail pictures and measurements of Houston FD's machine and then drew up blueprints. Mark then went to Raymond Guidry, President of Tennilles INC. and asked him if he could build one for him. He did and donated it to him for the team to use to practice with.
This is Mark Pandanell's official police statement to Detective Joe Stanton. David Zacherl filed a theft report with Texas City Police Department on October 23, 2009 in the amount of $3,000, which is what he believed the cost of the machine is. The case # is 09-009804.
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I Mark Pandanell make this statement to any and all accusations placed against me regarding the Kaiser Sled Machine, by The City of Texas City, Mayor Doyle, Joseph Gorman and David Zacherl.
I make this statement upon being told that on Friday, October 23, 2009 Joseph Gorman filed theft charges against me in the sum of Three Thousand dollars.
The Kaiser Machine was built and donated to me for use by the Combat Challenge Team and anyone else that I decide can use it. The City of Texas City nor the Fire Department never had any rights to the Kaiser.
I took pictures of another Kaiser and drew up blueprints off of the measurements I took of the Kaiser. I then took these blueprints and pictures to Raymond Guidry, President of Tennille, INC.
Raymond Guidry built and donated the Kaiser to me for use by the team and as I stated before, it had nothing do with neither the City nor the department.
Earlier this year, the department used the Kaiser to set up a physical agility test without my permission. Jesse Rubio was Training Officer at that time and I informed him that the Kaiser was my property for use by the Combat Team and that I had it had been built and donated to me. Jesse agreed with me and I told him that we do not mind the City using the Kaiser but that they need to know it is not theirs. I even pointed out the very large sticker on top of the Beam that showed it was mine for our use and donated by Tennille.
Soon after the test, we decided to remove the Kaiser from Station 1 and place it at my house. A few months later I contacted another Combat Challenge Team who was in need of a Kaiser and we donated the Kaiser to that team.
I informed Raymond Guidry of this and he stated that it was my Kaiser and that I could do what I wanted with it. He was glad to see it go to another team that could put it to use.
The current actions against me are more retaliation actions by Joseph Gorman and now David Zacherl in an already long list of retaliation that has been placed upon me since I was returned to work by an Arbitrator in September 2009 and won my money settlement. I know this makes Gorman and Zacherl very angry that I won.
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David Zacherl learned of the "missing" machine on Friday, October 23, 2009 as they were preparing to use it again for an upcoming hire in test. On this day he decided that Mark Pandanell was guilty of stealing the machine and never bothered to try and contact him about it. On this day he went forward with the charges of theft. Mark returned to work Monday morning the 26th to David Zacherl waiting for him at Station 3. He read the letter in the link below to Mark, then had him sign it and Mark went home. Again, he never asked Mark about the machine at all.
Letter putting Mark Pandanell off work.
From October 23rd to November 6th, Mark heard nothing from David Zacherl, Joseph Gorman or the City. Detective Joe Stanton did contact him to get a statement from him so he could officially close the case. Detective Stanton said that once he talked to Raymond Guidry, he considered the case closed as no theft had occurred and in his opinion it looked as though someone jumped the gun.
Steve Cooley, President of Local 1259 did have a meeting with Mayor Doyle during this time. Steve asked the Mayor if he had heard what Mark Pandanell was going through. The Mayors response was, "We'll just see how this plays out." Not a response Mark wanted to hear, especially from a man who had just settled his wrongful termination lawsuit months earlier. Some things in that meeting that the Mayor said that Mark took to heart, only to now know were lies.
On November 6th, Mark received a simple phone call from David Zacherl. he told Mark to come down to Administration, get with Captain Bill Fattig and sign some paper work. Once down there, Mark signed the below letter and all his work related items, uniforms, keys, badges and such were turned over to him. To this day, David Zacherl nor Chief Gorman has talked to him about this or tried to explain any of it to him.
Letter putting Mark Pandanell back to work.
Cause No. 10CV0639; Mark Pandanell v. Joseph A. Gorman and David B.
Pandanell vs Joseph Gorman and David Zacherl
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This lawsuit is a direct result of the City due to their ongoing harassment and retaliation against Mark Pandanell since he was reinstated back to work in 2008.
Civil Action No. 3:10-cv-00235; Mark Pandanell v. City of Texas City; In the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Galveston Division
Pandanell vs City of Texas City
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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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Here is a new policy that came out on May 28, 2010 on Emergency Meals. Now Emergency Meals are already addressed in our Contract.
Article XIX EMERGENCY MEALS
Section 1. All fire fighters engaged in the performance of duties including but not limited to Fire Fighting and other emergency work and are required to perform such duties away from their normal duty station shall be furnished meals of sufficient quantity and nutritional value under the following conditions:
A. When required to perform such work or other duties for three (3) hours or more during the inclusive period of 5:00 A.M. to 7:00 A.M.; 11 :00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.; 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.
B. When required to perform such work or other duties for longer than three (3) consecutive hours after 10:00 P.M. and prior to 3:00 A.M.
C. When required to work for any extended period of time in extremely cold, inclement or foul
weather.
Section 2. Such meals shall be promptly furnished to all involved fire fighters during the time periods specified.
Section 3. If, for some reason, meals are not furnished as specified, all fire fighters who do not receive meals shall be compensated at the rate of $4.50 per fire fighter for each meal missed.
Now Chief Gorman has decided to put out a policy stating that:
Section 3: RESPONSIIBILITY
Company Officers and Acting Company Officers:
• Ensure that the performance of duties is required and occurs within the time frames specified in this Policy
• Make contact with and secure permission from a Chief Officer prior to purchasing meals
Chief Officers:
• Review request to ensure requirements herein have been met before authorizing meal purchase.
Now, the Company Officers and Acting Company Officers have always followed the Contract. So they have always insured that the performance of duties is required and occurs within the time frames specified in this Policy.
Though no where in our Contract does it state that we have to contact with and secure permission from a Chief Officer, which would be Chief Gorman or Asst. Chief David Zacherl. So this change to an article inside our contract has been done without negotiations with the Firefighters Union.
Then if you look at Section 5 Deviation of this Policy, you will see once again where discipline is part of Gorman's routine here.
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