City of Philadelphia - File #: 100658

• File #: 100658
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 10/7/2010
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Title: Urging the Mayor, in light of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board's recent Order holding that Philadelphia's Fire Service Paramedics ("FSPs") do not belong in the same collective bargaining unit as firefighters, to direct all Administration officials to immediately halt ongoing and announced efforts to convert FSPs into non-represented employees, and to instead maintain the working conditions and benefits to which FSPs were entitled prior to the issuance of the Order, pending the resolution of this matter on appeal; and further authorizing Council to retain counsel to represent it in appeals and any related proceedings arising from the PLRB's Order, in order to support the position that FSPs are in fact fire personnel under Act 111 and should be entitled to remain in the uniformed Fire Department bargaining unit represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 22.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Kenney, Council President Verna, Councilmember Krajewski, Councilmember Rizzo, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Green, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Sanchez, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember O'Neill, Councilmember Kelly

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
10/7/2010	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced, Read and Adopted	Pass

Title
Urging the Mayor, in light of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board's recent Order holding that Philadelphia's Fire Service Paramedics ("FSPs") do not belong in the same collective bargaining unit as firefighters, to direct all Administration officials to immediately halt ongoing and announced efforts to convert FSPs into non-represented employees, and to instead maintain the working conditions and benefits to which FSPs were entitled prior to the issuance of the Order, pending the resolution of this matter on appeal; and further authorizing Council to retain counsel to represent it in appeals and any related proceedings arising from the PLRB's Order, in order to support the position that FSPs are in fact fire personnel under Act 111 and should be entitled to remain in the uniformed Fire Department bargaining unit represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 22.
Body
WHEREAS, Philadelphia's Fire Service Paramedics ("FSPs") have been members of the firefighter bargaining unit since the FSP position was created in the late 1980s, serving with courage and dedication on the front lines of defense against a wide range of hazards that threaten the lives of Philadelphians on a daily basis; and

WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia had never challenged the FSPs' status as fire personnel under Act 111 until the current Administration filed a petition for unit clarification with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board ("PLRB") on March 12, 2009 - after a small group of FSPs had successfully contended in federal court that the City had violated overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act; and

WHEREAS, On September 21, 2010, despite a vigorous and well-reasoned dissent from the PLRB's Chairman, the PLRB issued a Final Order holding that FSPs are not fire personnel for the purposes of Act 111 and therefore are properly excluded from the uniformed Fire Department bargaining unit represented by the International Association of Fire...