Hires don't answer firefighter union complaints

09/05/2007

By: RICK GUINNESS , Herald staff

NEW BRITAIN - The city has hired 18 firefighters, according to the Civil Serice Commission, which conducts tests and produces lists of candidates for city jobs, including the fire department.
But the department's problems are far from over:
There are still many unfilled positions; morale is at an all-time low, and the list of seasoned veterans who have said they are fed up with working conditions - or, more accurately, "hiring policy" - continues to grow, union president Ed Preece said.
It's because Chief Mark Carr hates him that he has been passed over, Preece said.
Carr conducted the interviews for the new crop of privates.
He is on vacation and could not be reached for comment.
Before he left for vacation, "he didn't leave anyone in charge, which means he doesn't trust his deputies," Preece said.
Entry-level candidates must take a test, and their scores - including Preece's - are public. But the chief can hire whomever he wants off that list, in a policy known as "the rule of the list."
The rule of the list has been in place long before his tenure, Mayor Timothy Stewart said last night, and before Carr's.
Promotions, however, are different. Eight people may be considered for any job opening.
Applicants take a test. The top five scores, plus the three highest-scoring New Britain residents, are eligible. This policy is known as he rule of five plus three.
"I was skipped seven times for promotion," said Jimmy Dzwil, a lieutenant who resigned Aug. 19.
Dzwill said he became a lieutenant in September 2006 as a result of a grievance.
"Carr was just trying to avoid hiring people," he said, adding that he strongly believes the chief and Stewart were trying to let the list of candidates expire.
On the other hand, it could be that the rule of the list is just a bad policy, he said.
"They hired more people than they were budgeted for this past time," he said, "and then they told them that they couldn't have the job."
Several rejected candidates called The Herald to complain of this.
"What's going on may not be illegal, but it's wrong," Dzwil said. "It should be above politics. That's the problem with the rule of the list."
Another issue that galls union members is that the city has been without a fire marshal for more than two years, with no test given to fill the position, because "they are delaying the hiring of a fire marshal," Dzwil said.
Dzwil retired after 20 years on the job in New Britain.
"He's 38," Preece said. "He's not getting out because of old age."
And Preece is right about his motivation, Dzwil said, because he was so disatisfied with the job.
"The administration is terrible," Dzwil said. "They have this new hiring system. But now they skip all over the list. I don't know what their criteria are. They don't tell us."
Dzwill, Preece and every union firefighter who was willing to go on record said they believed the rule of the list is the perfect vehicle for patronage and nepotism, pointing to two firefighters hired this past spring who were sons of Stewart's friends.
Even Preece concedes the favored sons are doing an excellent job, which weakens his argument, a spokesman for the mayor said, adding that there are also sons of union members who have been hired, but no one has made an issue of it.
The hiring of the 18 firefighters who start Friday will go a long way toward cutting back on overtime the city has been paying out,
Some firefighters made more than $109,000 in the past year, counting salary and overtime.
But Preece pointed out that one of them also "worked 109 extra shifts, 109 days and/or nights."
Despite all the animosity between the union and administration, Preece assured that, once hired, the recruits "will be accepted as our guys."
"The only thing we would like is for them to hire straight down the list - in the order in which they scored on their exam - whether tbey are town residents or not," he said.
Preece and the fire commission still have not received the list of new hires.
He is scheduled to meet with them Friday, however, before they start at the state Fire Academy in Windsor Locks.