The Anatomy of a Spin Job

Cities across Illinois are girding for an uphill fight during the Veto Session to prevent the Illinois State Senate from acquiescing to the demands of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois for an unprecedented expansion to Illinois' collective bargaining law. HB 5485 would confer the right to submit disagreements over fire department staffing levels to interest arbitration.

The powerful firefighter union is trying to hoodwink legislators into believing that firefighters are being denied a statutory right that they have, in fact, never possessed. Under this bogus narrative, villainous local officials have suddenly become emboldened to harass financially-strapped local bargaining units by trying to take away their right to bargain over how many firefighters work on a shift.

In reality, the fire union is poised to achieve a feat that no other local government unions have accomplished through statutory fiat. The absolute and uncontestable right to have a third-party, unappointed by city officials and unelected by voters, decide how many employees work for a municipal department.

Under Illinois law, fire department staffing levels are a permissive subject of bargaining. This means that cities without staffing level provisions in their contracts are under no requirement to have the matter submitted to third-party arbitration. 

To be fair, Illinois law provides that a city must bargain and be subject to binding arbitration over fire department staffing levels if the provision is already included within the contract. This point is not being disputed by opponents of HB 5485.

But the firefighter union is working overtime to bamboozle legislators into believing that ALL cities fall under this bargaining and arbitration requirement. Based on this fallacious argument, the firefighters contend that cities that refuse to submit to interest arbitration over staffing levels are subverting the law. They further contend that this "subversion" if forcing local fire unions to expend financial resources to "reclaim" a right that does not exist under Illinois law.

Why is this issue so significant?

Personnel expenses are the most significant cost drivers facing cities. These costs include wages, health insurance benefits, and pension obligations. Each of these provisions must be bargained under current law. If the city and labor union reach impasse, the matter goes before an arbitrator. If the city loses, then it's taxpayers on the hook for the additional costs associated with the arbitration award.

But as personnel costs increase, cities have always had recourse to hold the line on costs by reducing headcount. They could reduce staff, or forego planned hires, without the need to seek permission from the union. Determining how many employees work in a municipal department is an exclusive prerogative of management and directly related to the determination of "standards of service." Service standards are a policy matter exclusively reserved for officials that possess the legitimacy of having been elected by the residents of a community.

If cities lose control over the number of firefighters employed by the fire department, then the likelihood of local tax hikes and service cuts increase.

Beware the interest group that claims it is only trying to "clarify what the law already says." Such claims are always signs of a soft sell and a clear indication that something much more substantial is afoot. The Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois is betting that it can create enough confusion over the issue that legislators already predisposed to support firefighters can be seduced into making a major change in law without even realizing the extent of their actions.