Miscellaneous Language
STATION MAINTENANCE
These clauses define the station maintenance and upkeep re-sponsibilities of the Fire Fighters and the Employer.
Model contract language:
The Employer agrees to supply and make available all materi-als required in the day-to-day maintenance and upkeep of all fire houses. The Employer furthermore agrees to supply all items necessary to maintain satisfactory sanitary conditions of all quarters within all fire houses.
Provided below are three sample station maintenance clauses:
Clause 1:
No employee in the fire fighting force shall be assigned to per-form any duty which is unrelated to fire fighting, fire prevention (including inspections), Emergency Medical Serv-ices or rescue work or for the care and maintenance of fire fighting equipment and apparatus, or to the normal cleaning required to maintain the quarters and areas in which he/she is employed, in a clean and sanitary manner. Nothing herein pro-hibits the Chief from assigning personnel to work on special projects relating to department business on a day-to-day basis on their assigned shift.
Clause 2:
Fire Fighters shall be required to clean their living areas, the watch desk, and office area as part of annual spring cleaning, but shall not be responsible for cleaning apparatus rooms, stor-age rooms, basements, or attics as a part of the annual spring cleaning. These latter rooms shall be cleaned, however, on a daily or regular basis.
Ambulances, fire trucks and other fire fighting equipment shall be washed only once daily in the morning if the Captain deems it nec-essary or as it is required to maintain the safety of the Fire Fighters.
Clause 3:
Station Duties
No member shall be required to perform any duties other than those related to fire fighting and medical care procedures for which he/she is trained. This is not to be interpreted that a member may neglect routine housekeeping tasks for a clean, sanitary and safe work place. However wall washing, painting fixed or unfixed surfaces unrelated to fire service, construction work, and any type of extraneous building maintenance is ex-pressly prohibited.
TRANSFERS
Transfer provisions mandate a procedure by which all transfers will be made.
Model contract language:
In the event of a job opening due to the promotion, transfer, demotion, retirement or demise of an employee, which should be filled by a lateral transfer, such transfer shall be made in ac-cordance with the following provisions:
1. All positions to be filled by lateral transfer shall be an-nounced by bulletin which shall be posted in convenient locations accessible to all employees for a period of at least ____ days. Such positions shall be considered open for written bid for this ____ day period.
2. In the event more than one employee submits a written bid to the Employer for the position, the position shall be filled by the bidding employee with the greatest seniority.
3. In the event no bid is received for a posted position, the Em-ployer has the right to offer the position to any employee.
Provided below are three sample transfer clauses:
Clause 1:
Section 1. Whenever a vacancy occurs in an assignment, and such vacancy is going to be filled by the Division of Fire, an announcement of the existence of such va-cancy shall be posted. Employees desiring a change of assignments may make a written request on the designated Fire Division form for such change.
When a vacancy occurs in any ____ hour assign-ment, the assignment to the vacant position will be made on the basis of rank seniority unless the skill, ability, and work performance of a less senior bid-der is greater. Upon the request by the Local Union and/or the member(s) in question, the Fire Division shall substantiate, in writing, why it considers the skills, ability and work performance of the less sen-ior bidder to be greater. Should a grievance be filed contesting (1) a posted vacancy or (2) the employee selected to fill a vacancy, the vacancy which is the subject of the grievance shall not be filled by perma-nent transfer until the grievance is resolved. In addition, if any bidder with seniority higher than the person who the city otherwise intends to select for the grieved position is also the bidder with the high-est seniority for another posted vacancy (i.e., an
“affected vacancy”), such affected vacancy shall not be filled by permanent transfer until the grievance is resolved. When there is no qualified bidder for the vacancy, and the vacancy has been advertised, the least senior qualified unassigned person in the rele-vant rank with proper certification shall be so transferred. The least senior (rank) officer in the rel-evant rank shall be determined on the closing date of the vacancy list. The least senior officer in the rel-evant rank on the closing date (deadline for submission of bids) of any vacancy list shall be the officer subject to force filling.
Section 2. When any employee is about to be permanently transferred from a forty (40) hour per week schedule to the three (3) platoon shift, or vice versa, he shall be given, except in extraordinary circumstances, at least forty-eight (48) hours notice of such change. This same provision shall apply in the case of permanent transfers from one unit to another.
Section 3. Permanent Transfers
The following procedures shall be followed for all permanent transfers:
(a) The permanent transfer list shall precede and be distributed before the next vacancy list is posted.
(b) The vacancy and the permanent transfer list shall reflect the position being vacated and the position being filled by name, rank and position.
(c) On the permanent transfer list the “date to be determined later” shall be noted as a projected date on that transfer list and any subsequent transfer list, until such time the actual transfer is made.
(d) No vacancy shall be considered to be force transferred until the vacant position has been advertised on at least one va-cancy list as set forth in Section 1. above.
(e) The vacancy list shall be advertised for _____ days.
(f) The permanent transfer list must state the exact vacancy filled.
(g) Any newly created position shall be advertised as a vacancy on the first vacancy list following the creation of said position.
(h) Any employee on approved leave desiring a change in as-signment must submit a written request on the form designated by the Fire Division. Such request shall be kept on file and shall be worked with all other written requests desiring changes in assignment.
(i) Whenever a vacancy is created by promotion, retirement, resignation, termination or any other action, and such va-cancy is going to be filled by the Division of Fire, it shall be advertised on the next vacancy list following the actual cal-endar date of the occurrence.
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Clause 2:
(1) The City shall compile a list of permanent vacancies every ___
weeks and shall post such list in each unit or company not less than ___ days before the end of the current pay period.
(2) Each employee will have ___ days from the day of posting to submit a bid on the authorized form, on posted vacan-cies of rank equal to his or her own.
(3) Each employee may submit no more than ___ bids in the order of preference. If an employee is the senior qualified bidder on any one of the bids submitted, said employee must accept the position so bid.
(4) The senior employee bidding for a vacancy as determined below, shall be transferred to such vacancy at the close of the current pay period.
(5) If all positions of equal rank are filled, an employee, with the permission of the Chief, may submit his or her own po-sition for bid in accordance with this Section. The employee so doing shall be transferred to the vacancy created by the employee successfully bidding on the posted position.
(6) Seniority
(a) Seniority for the purpose of bidding on transfers shall be determined by continuous service in the Bureau.
(b) Continuous service shall be calculated from the date an em-ployee was sworn into the Bureau.
(c) Employees sworn in at the same time shall be assigned in the order that their names appeared on the eligible list of the Civil Service Commission at the end of their probationary period.
(d) Continuous service shall be broken by resignation or dis-charge.
Clause 3:
Employees may request a transfer into a district at anytime on a form provided by the Employer. Such requests must be ap-proved by the Chief, but will be given priority consideration when filling vacancies within that district, subject to the fol-lowing limitations:
(a) Transfers will be made based on the date of submission of the request. (In the case of a tie, departmental seniority will be the determining factor.)
(b) Only one request can be active at any time.
(c) If this transfer system is utilized, the employee cannot re-quest another transfer for one (1) year unless an Administrative Transfer occurs moving them out of the re-quested district.
TURNOUTS
Clauses on turnouts define what fire fighting gear and work uniforms are to be furnished. In addition, many clauses on turnouts also specify that nationally recognized standards are to be followed when purchasing turnout gear and work uniforms.
Model contract language:
The Employer shall furnish and thereafter maintain at no cost to the employee all respiratory apparatus, gloves, helmets, pro-tective clothing and other propro-tective equipment, such as personal alarm devices, or personal floatation devices, neces-sary to preserve and protect the safety and health of fire fighters.
All protective clothing and equipment shall meet the standard, whether existing or promulgated during the term of this agree-ment, that provides the highest level of worker protection from among federal, state, provincial or voluntary consensus standards.
The Employer agrees to convert present self-contained breath-ing apparatus to open circuit positive pressure type within _____ months and that all new purchases shall be only of open-circuit positive pressure self-contained breathing appa-ratus.
Only personnel who have been trained and certified by the manufacturer or applicable federal agency shall be permitted to perform maintenance and/or repairs on self-contained breathing apparatus.
The Employer shall provide and thereafter maintain at no cost to the employee station uniforms that meet the non-flamma-bility criteria for char length and after flame time in accordance with the provision set forth in 29 CFR 1910.1S6 (e) (3) (ii) (B), OSHA Fire Brigade Standard.
Provided below are three sample turnout clauses:
Clause 1:
The City agrees to furnish, upon need, necessary protective fire fighting gear and work uniforms. All uniforms and gear, as phased in for purchase, shall meet the minimum standards set forth by NFPA. Uniforms and protective gear will be replaced by the City when said uniforms and protective gear are pre-sented by the employee as no longer fitting or are worn to such a degree as they are no longer presentable for wear.
Clause 2:
(A) The County shall supply to each employee and replace on an as needed basis:
1. One (1) turnout coat 2. One (1) helmet
3. One (1) adjunct with a check valve
4. One (1) pair of turn-out pants with suspenders 5. One (1) pair of leather structural fire fighting 14” high
slip on boots. EMS-only personnel shall be issued an 8”
side-zip EMS boot, NFPA certified or be afforded
$___________ in shoe replacement allowance 6. Two (2) pairs of turnout gloves
7. A hood that meets or exceeds NFPA standard 1971 8. One (1) set personal hearing protectors
9. One (1) gear bag to each member assigned to Emergency Operations for the purpose of carrying turn-out gear when members are detailed from one location to another.
(B) The County shall supply, and replace on an as-needed basis:
1. One (1) pair of muff-type hearing protectors for each truck, and two (2) pairs of muff-type protectors for each Medic 2. One (1) NFPA approved P.A.S.S. device for each position 3. One (1) pair of communication headsets for each riding
po-sition on all newly purchased apparatus
(C) Full turn-out gear shall be worn on all calls for structure fires, rescue assignments, vehicle fires, Haz Mat incidents and other appropriate calls. Full turn-out gear shall not be required on heart related or medical incidents unless rescue is involved.
(D) The County, Fire Department, and Association shall con-tinue to work in concert and consider all State and Federal Grant Avenues to obtain enhancements for the fire serv-ice, including but not limited to the following:
1. A second turn-out coat, a second pair of turn-out pants and suspenders, and second hood for each member.
2. One (1) Portable Radio and Two (2) Batteries for each riding position on every Engine, Truck, and Medic
3. Fifty foot (50’) piece of personal search and rescue rope and a carrying bag.
4. Face piece amplifier to enhance radio communications when wearing Breathing Apparatus in a hazardous atmosphere.
5. One (1) Air Compressor within each Division for the use in the air cascade systems in the career stations.
Clause 3:
The City agrees to replace damaged, lost or stolen station uni-forms and replace all firefighting protective equipment as needed, whether destroyed, damaged, lost, stolen or worn in the line of duty. Protective equipment shall be considered to be boots, helmets, gloves, night hitches and fire coats. The City shall endeavor to furnish members uniforms and protective equipment within ___ days of said written request and if un-able to do so will furnish said applicant with a reasonun-able explanation as to the cause of any delay.
The City agrees to issue one station uniform, except shoes, yearly to all members. The station uniform will consist of a shirt and pants and shoes. Members whose station uniform consists of black pants, white shirt and black tie shall be issued the required clothing. Said uniforms to be issued on July 1st.