City of Rochester
News Release
(Monday, June 8, 2009) - Mayor Robert J. Duffy today released the following statement on the Rochester firefighters union’s challenge that Cool Sweep duties constitute an unfair work practice:
“The arbitrator’s ruling will only serve to drive a wedge between the RFD and the community for no logical reason. The decision by the Administrative Law Judge, Jean Doerr may now have statewide implications as similar open hydrant efforts in other cities can now be challenged. Once again state arbitration and state mandates have sided with special interests over the needs of our children. If arbitrators and Administrative Law Judges based their decisions on the needs of taxpayers and children, we would have a very different ruling today.
I can tell you first-hand that City firefighters not only don’t mind providing “Cool Sweep” – they look forward to it. They want to contribute to our community, which is why they became firefighters in the first place. I feel badly for them and the children they served. On a 90-degree day, they will have to stand idly by while other City workers and volunteers open the hydrants.
The Law Judge ruled that opening fire hydrants is not inherent to the duties of firefighters. This opens the question -- as to what are the inherent duties of a firefighter? This decision defeats our ability to do more with less in these troubling economic times.”
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News media: Contact Gary Walker at 428-7045.