February 2, 2014
Hello WPFA Members,
Unfortunately, we did not have enough members tonight to reach a quorum at our General Membership Meeting tonight. I have summarized the issues within the Association for your information. Please take a quick read and if you have any questions feel free to contact the WPFFA executive board.
Retro
All WPFFA members have received their retro payments. For those employees whose credit union deposits were not showing on their pay stubs, IT has been successful in adding a line to the paystubs to show the credit union direct deposits as well as showing the “other” direct deposit.
Acting Pay
City Payroll was unable to get the Acting Pay retro on the January 17th, 2014 pay. The payments for Acting Pay should have been on January 31, 2014.
Pay Adjustments
Some members have had money deducted from their pay cheques due to payroll finding out that some members have received payment twice for the same overtime sheets submitted. If this occurred to you please contact Kathie Block for information.
Clerk Position
Our new clerk has been hired. Congratulations to Susanne Hutnik!
Critical Illness
The critical illness deduction on all future pays will be $10.87.
Rizza Grievance
We presented this grievance at the CAO level and the grievance was denied. As a result that was unsatisfactory to the WPFFA, the grievance has been filed to go to Arbitration.
Sparky’s Toy Drive
Special thanks to Bob Bailey and John McRae for all of their countless hours in making this year’s Sparky’s Toy Drive the best campaign to date! Also, a special thanks to anyone who helped out an event, came with one of the trucks to a PR event or collected toys with a smile on your face at your station, every little bit helped. Sparky’s Toy Drive is looking for some new individuals to be trained next year with the purpose of taking over this endeavor in the future. If you are interested, please contact Bob or John.
Calendars
A special thanks to Kyle Aarssen for organizing the 2014 FF Calendar and the sale events. Most of the calendars have been sold, but there are still a few available if anyone still needs one. The calendar sales profited approximately $3500.00 for the Memorial fund. Thanks to the entire calendar Fire Fighters for spending their time at special events selling the calendars and once again, job well-done Kyle!
Benefit Fund
Please remember that the Benefit Fund would like you to consider using payroll deductions to make your contribution to the Benefit Fund. It’s an easy worry free way to help those in need. Thanks for helping those in our community who need it most.
WSIB Files
We have given our WSIB advocate 3 files to review. Please remember that these files contain privileged and confidential information and we need to honor that.
OPFFA Sub Days - We will be looking at re-evaluating the amount of pay for a sub day to reflect our pay raise.
Overtime and Sub List – The executive board has decided that only 1 phone number will be put on the overtime lists and the WPFFA Sub List. Please contact our Secretary Duane Janisse by email and let him know what number you would like the Association to use when calling for Overtime.
Communications
As most of you seem to be aware we have started to send out our messages via the social world. Please get registered on our:
1) Website: www.windsorfirefighters.org
2) Twitter: WPFFA_Local_455
3) Face Book: Windsor Firefighters
Please register and follow us on these sites and pass our message on to your friends. These social media avenues are the least expensive but they get our message out to thousands immediately.
Auxiliary Dispatchers
The FMT presented the WPFFA with some information regarding auxiliary dispatchers. We are currently reviewing the information and we are looking to have an agreement in place in the near future.
Sick Time Average
Our sick time has been below the City average and we continue to improve on this. If you are going to be placed on sick notes you must be over the Fire Department average for 3 consecutive years.
1) 2010 Average – 8.99
2) 2011 Average – 10.11
3) 2012 Average – 9.35.
The FMT is looking at the sick time and hoping to have interviews shortly.
Pay Equity
We are currently trying to get a few dates lined up in the near future to deal with Pay Equity.
IAFF – Geographic Information System
Wayne and I took a trip to Washington DC, to get a better grasp on the GIS study that is taking place for our Local 455. We spent the whole day in meetings, discussing different scenarios to present to the City of Windsor that would be better than their proposed plan. Unfortunately, these scenarios take a while to run and we are still currently looking at options that would better our position. We are trying to find a solid plan that betters our deployment capabilities.
Media
While in Washington DC at the IAFF office we met with GP Harold Schaitberger and he committed to the WPFFA in assisting us with our fight back campaign. He also committed the IAFF’s media team. The media team flew into Windsor last week and we escorted them around town for two days. During these two days they videotaped retirees and members of our community were the Fire Department assisted their families. We need to tell our story and sell what we do and that is that we are valued in our Communities.
Toledo Last Alarm Service
The WPFFA was well represented at the Last Alarm Service in Toledo for our fallen Fire Fighters. It is with deepest regret and sorrow that we remember the line-of-duty deaths of Fire Fighters Stephen A. Machcinski and James A. Dickman of IAFF Local 92 – Toledo, Ohio. Brother Machcinski, 42 and Brother Dickman, 31, passed away on Sunday, January 26, 2014 while battling an apartment fire. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and colleagues of the Toledo Ohio Fire Fighters that lost their lives serving others. I would like to thank Dave DeRush for organizing the day. We had 33 Fire Fighters attend the service and the WPFFA was represented strongly!
Live Streaming
Our General Membership Meetings have been live streamed for some while now and we have currently upgraded our video and audio technology. This should take care of some of our past issues. The last item that we will need to correct is the speed of the Internet at the Hook and Ladder.
Hook and Ladder
The Hook and Ladder has a new kitchen and the food is awesome! The menu is on our face book account, so please check it out. We will have menus in the halls very shortly.
Closing Statement
Our board continues to work hard and will continue to represent the WPFFA members to the fullest. We are working on a short term and long term plan to better position ourselves with the City and the community. We will have more on the political and electoral front very shortly. Again, this is a very busy year along with all of the issues we have with our Collective Agreement and the process of starting up negotiations. Stay tuned.
Our next General Membership Meeting is on Wednesday March 5th, 2014 at 7:30pm at the Hook and Ladder.
Fraternally,
Angelo Gertsakis
WPFAA, Local 455
President
