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Court Cases, Not Contracts
Jim Rurak, Former Mayor of Haverhill

Councilor Dave Hall on the front-page telling firefighters to go home speaks volumes. It explains more than half the reason why the mayor failed at winning collective bargaining agreements with the city’s two largest working groups, the police and firefighters. None of it’s Dave’s fault; he was just the messenger. It’s worth thinking about the message.

 First, the mayor and the firefighters could not agree on terms for a contract. The mayor, citing financial hardship, gave a low-ball offer. The firefighters, without a raise since 2002, did not get mad, they got justice. But they had to get it from the arbitration board. As a result, the mayor is obliged to recommend the ruling to the City Council. The ruling will cost the city dearly because it corrects four years of neglect in one budget year.

 The scene is set. The mayor sends the recommendation to the City Council. The paper reports that the council will act on it at its next meeting. The firefighters gather their troops for the showdown. The chambers are packed, even out into the hallways. Then, Council President Hart announces that the council is not going to act on the recommendation until May. Library Director Nancy Rea is relieved and the firefighters are infuriated. To his credit, Dave Hall tries to calm things down.

 We know why the firefighters were infuriated. After three years of going backwards with the mayor, they finally won in court. They wanted to press their cause at the council.

They thought it would act; it didn’t. But why was Ms. Rea relieved? Apparently, the mayor, who did not attend the meeting, sent a memo outlining the cuts he’d make if the council voted to accept the arbiter’s ruling. The library was hit hard. So when the council delayed, the library got a temporary reprieve.

 But think about this whole scenario. The mayor sends a list of cuts. Ms. Rea must have gotten wind of it. She’s there to defend her budget, as she should. Two days earlier, Councilor Hall says he’s losing sleep just thinking about how hard a decision it will be for him. The firefighters are all there to press their cause. But the vote’s delayed.

 Didn’t anyone have the foresight to give a courtesy call to Ms. Rea and to the Firefighter’s Union president? Certainly, the decision to delay the vote wasn’t a snap judgement by Councilor Hart. Certainly, the mayor knew, or he would surely have had the decency to be at this most important meeting.

 While financial woes do make it difficult to negotiate contracts, the main reason we do not have contracts in the city is that the mayor would rather be forced by a court to make major contractual decisions. Then, he treats the victorious city union like a litigant who just won a case against him in court, namely, the silent treatment. While there may be some minor political advantage in this for him (he can say he fought the fight but was forced by a court to pay more than he wanted to as mayor), the problem is that he was elected to negotiate good contracts for the taxpayers and the unions rather than have courts hand victories to the unions.

And, when the whole issue came up before the City Council, the mayor sent a memo pitting the library against the fire department and never had the courtesy to call either about the fact that the vote was delayed. John Kennedy said he would never negotiate out of fear, but he would never fear to negotiate. The mayor not only fears to negotiate, he hides behind his failure looking for a chance to blame someone else.

As a lawyer, you can blame your loss in court on a cranky judge or a capricious jury and then walk away. As a mayor, even when you don’t like how things turn out, you must treat all parties justly and attempt to run the city.  

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The May, 2006 Edition of the Valley Patriot
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Former Columns by Jim Rurk