Thursday, November 4, 1999 Older Editions

Working the all-day shift

By Taylor Armerding

One way to look at the new Andover firefighters' schedule is that they're working six days out of every eight. After all, an eight-hour shift is considered a day of work.

Then again, another way to look at it is that they've finally cracked the five-day weekend barrier.

However it is viewed, the new 24-hour shift schedule is probably the most noticeable change in the new, three-year contract that the International Association of Firefighters Local 1658 signed with the town on Sept. 17 and implemented last month.

But, as Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski, Fire Chief Harold Wright and union president Jim Cuticchia all point out, it doesn't change the average weekly hours a firefighter is on duty.

It just clusters them dramatically.

According to the former schedule, firefighters worked two 10-hour day shifts, then two 14-hour night shifts, and then had four days off, for an average of 42 hours per week.

The new work schedule is also an eight-day cycle, but now a firefighter is on duty for 24 hours, off for 24 hours, on for another 24 hours, and then off for five straight days. This also works out to an average of 42 hours a week.

"Essentially, you're just combining the day shifts with the night shifts," Cuticchia says.

However, the number of days per year a firefighter will actually be at the station, even if he or she worked every scheduled shift, will now be cut in half, to about 91. And with vacations, holidays, personal leave, sick leave and special leave, it is likely that firefighters will be at the station 75 or even fewer days a year.

Time off benefits are expressed in hours, but a firefighter with five to 10 years on the department is eligible for seven 24-hour days of vacation, or the equivalent of three and a half eight-day cycles; one day of personal leave; nine days of sick leave (or four and a half cycles); and 12 so-called "special" leaves.

But Stapczynski, Wright and Cuticchia, the lead signatures on the new contract, are unanimous in saying that the new structure is better for everybody, including local taxpayers. To those who might be skeptical, they present the following evidence:

o It will not add staff to the force.

o It will not cost more, they say. Wright says that since the contract gives him a bit more management authority to control overtime, it could even cost the town less.

o Wright and Cuticchia say the shift structure is better for management because of the kind of specialized job fire fighting is. "We 'live' at the station (when on duty)," Cuticchia says, "and this allows us to get more done on a shift."

Wright agrees, adding that "certain deadlines," which formerly interrupted training, such as the end of a day shift, will no longer do so.

Both say it is easier to do training ("which is a lot of what we do," Cuticchia says) when a day shift doesn't end at 6 p.m. "And it's much easier to do night training," Cuticchia adds.

o The 24-hour shift is well-established across the country. "Most of it is (in communities) west of the Mississippi," Stapczynski says, "but it has been in Massachusetts for a while now."

Cuticchia says it has been in Massachusetts for about 20 years, and is now in 28 cities and towns, including North Reading and Tewksbury.

He acknowledges that it's a pretty good deal for firefighters, too. Not only do they get five days in a row off during every eight-day cycle, they now never have to work an entire weekend. "Before, we worked eight out of 11 weekends," he says.

But he says this, too, will benefit the town, because all that time off gives firefighters more of a chance to get involved in community activities, and also allows them to do additional training, such as at the state fire academy.

Still, wasn't it the labor movement that worked so hard for the eight-hour day, arguing that this was as long as a person should be expected to work? Isn't this a tacit acknowledgement that workers can easily put in more than that in a day, especially when they can sleep six to eight hours on most of those shifts?

Wright brushes that off, saying that the eight-hour day was established to eliminate "flagrant abuses" of workers by employers.

He says the new schedule is just another example of "flex time" that is becoming more common in many areas of the work force.

Besides, sleep has always been allowed on the night shifts. "You have to give people rest," Cuticchia says.

Stapczynski, who negotiates employee contracts for the town, notes that there are a number of clauses that allow the town or the union to go back to the former schedule.

"I didn't see any reason not to try it out," he says. "It is working well in other communities."

The other major changes in the new contract are a 3-percent salary increase for each of the three years, which is retroactive to July 1, 1998; and a new family leave policy.

Under the new salary structure, base pay for firefighters, which is divided according to a series of steps, ranges from $33,433 to $38,821 in the first year of the contract, and $35,480 to $41,185 in the third year.

Base pay for lieutenants ranges from $44,128 to $49,216; for deputy chiefs from $57,649 to $61,160 and for the fire prevention deputy chief from $65,778 to $69,784.

Almost nobody on the force receives just base pay, however, since there are so many financial incentives or bonuses built into the pay structure.

Members of the force get a 6 percent premium for being EMT (emergency medical technician) certified (and all firefighters hired after 1985 are required to be EMT certified); longevity pay that starts at 2 percent after five years and tops out at 4 percent after 25 years; and educational incentive pay that ranges from 5 percent for an associate's degree to 12.5 percent for a master's degree. The town has to pay that educational incentive regardless of the major -- it doesn't have to be related to public safety or fire science.

So, for example, a firefighter with five years experience, EMT certification and a college degree in literature, would see his or her base pay jump from $35,136 in the first year to $41,460.

Other bonuses are a 3 percent scale differential for having a Class I or Class II driver's license, and an 18-percent salary premium for being a fire prevention officer.

Cuticchia says these salary incentives are standard in the industry, and have been in place in Andover for some time. He says Andover ranks 14th in pay in the state, or in the top 5 percent of the 321 cities and towns in the commonwealth.

But that, he says, is also a benefit to the town, since it means the best and brightest will be attracted to work here.

While there has never been a shortage of applicants for public safety jobs, he says the high pay gives the chief a better choice when it comes to selecting new employees.

"And when it comes to service, I don't think anybody is better. I think we're tops in the state," he says.

Finally, the new family leave policy provides maternity leave of up to a year for female members of the force (there are currently three) and up to 12 weeks for males for "personal, family emergency or tragedy."

Cuticchia calls this the "jewel" of the contract. "It's the thing I'm the proudest of," he says, "because it's a situation that hadn't been properly addressed in the past."

While a female member isn't paid for the year (although she can use accumulated sick leave), the new policy does secure the position and seniority, and allows her to maintain her health insurance.

The new contract, Cuticchia says, reflects what he calls "a new and different spirit of cooperation with both the chief and the town.

"I think we've begun to come together," he says, "and when that happens, you have a better place to work, and you get more out of people. It's not productive to pay attorneys (to resolve grievances)."

Wright adds that he appreciates Stapczynski's management style. "He doesn't try to micromanage my department," he says, adding that during negotiations, "we aired our differences in a professional manner."