Pontiac Firefighters Say Plan Would Save Jobs and Money

PONTIAC, Mich. (WJBK) - They're trained to put out fires, but never expected to be at the center of a hot financial mess. Pontiac firefighters have been given pink slips, but they tell us they've come up with a plan to save their jobs and save the city a lot of cash.

Firefighters say they gave emergency manager Lou Schimmel a counterproposal that's supposed to save the city $4 million. That's $1 million than Schimmel's plan, but they say he just ignored it, and now they're forced to make a decision on a tentative agreement they're not happy about at all.

"People of Pontiac do not want to outsource their fire department. The firefighters of Pontiac are willing to take concessions and do this cheaper, cheaper than Waterford," said Pontiac firefighter Chris Gangnier.

To add insult to injury of the fire department's Christmas Eve pink slips, Schimmel was absent from Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

"Mr. Schimmel, as I've stated at this podium many times before, did not want to meet with us, did not choose to entertain our offer," said Local 376 Union President Damon Harvey. "He told me at that point in time there's nothing we can do to remain Pontiac Fire."

"Instead of twelve firemen a day, we would have 14, but we would stay Pontiac. That proposal that we gave to them wasn't even looked at," Gangnier said.

Pontiac Mayor Leon Jukowski claims he's just now getting a copy of the counteroffer, but the firefighters say they delivered it last week.

"Any comment that I make on that can be construed as an unfair labor practice, so I will have no comment," he said.

"I think it's wrong. The contract that they gave us is basically you put the gun to your head and pull the trigger or we're going to pull it for you," said Pontiac Fire Captain Hugh Pettway. "The citizens are going to be harmed. Someone's going to die."

And in that tentative agreement, Schimmel expects this strategy to make sense.

"He's cutting the manpower down to twelve guys a day. Two of the five stations will be closed. That leaves three stations open. We send three stations to one house fire," Pettway explained.

Firefighters say response times will be down.

"Probably 10 to 15 minutes," Pettway said.

Pontiac firefighters are set to make a vote on the tentative agreement Wednesday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.

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Pontiac Firefighters Get Christmas Eve Pink Slips