Beach firefighters close to contract agreement

Navarre Beach Volunteer Fire Department board of directors scheduled a special meeting for Nov. 7 in anticipation of finalizing the collective bargaining agreement with the International Association of Firefighters local Union No. 4494.

The collective bargaining unit for the board, which includes Chairman Robert Coley, board members Ken Rudzki and John Lewis and Fire Chief Mike Howard, tentatively approved an amendment to the collective bargaining agreement during an Oct. 27 board meeting.

The amendment states that the department will promote/hire three firefighters to be captains, or shift supervisors that would not be members of the local union. However, the three captains will have six months after being hired to decide if they want to return to being a firefighter with the union.

“If one of the firemen elects to be a captain and within the first six months he decides he doesn’t want to be a captain for whatever reason, he can go back to being a fireman and retain his seniority but the last person that was hired as a fireman would be bumped out of the fire department,” Coley said.

For more of this story, see the Nov. 3 issue of Navarre Press or subscribe online.