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to the editor
This time the Warwick Firefighter Contract needs to be properly vetted.
Council leaders must not make the same mistake, as it became clear that language that violated federal guidelines was allowed in the last contract, and at the ratification hearing on January 30, 2023 We must not allow this to happen again.
Rumors circulated last week that parts of the 2019 Warwick Firefighter contract were rushed to ratification, resulting in parts of the contract not being implemented by the government.
Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB), a contract clause for retiree health care, was touted as saving taxpayers millions of dollars in the future. Taxpayers have shown that this is not true. But that didn’t matter to Councilors McAllister, Howe, Sinapi, Travis, and McElroy, who ignored those warnings and used every trick in the book to break through that deal.
Alderman Ed Ladoucheur led an indictment to challenge the administration and five aldermen. He methodically demonstrated that the terms of the contract violate federal OPEB guidelines. Listen to the clip for an excerpt from his testimony. He was ignored too! Link to his testimony: https://youtu.be/b4hupqcuHVg
Firefighters in attendance gave a standing ovation for these contract terms. what happened?
On January 13th, we learned through a Freedom of Information Request that the Administration has decided not to implement OPEB provisions.
How can an administrator do this without going through the appropriate legal requirements to change the contract?
A few years ago, we learned that the administration of former mayor Scott Avedisian made a secret deal with the fire department to change the terms of the contract. The problem with this approach is that it’s not legal. This cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Mayor Picocci should have notified the council and resumed negotiations with the fire union to correct the offending language. Instead, he seems to have decided unilaterally not to comply with those terms of the contract.
The wording could have been amended and the renegotiated agreement should have been ratified by the Firefighters Union and submitted to Warwick City Council at a public hearing to ratify it.
it didn’t happen. Determine who knew what, when they knew, and what illegal actions were taken to simply ignore provisions of legally ratified contracts that could expose taxpayers to liability To do so, a full investigation must be done.
This action underscores the importance of this new termination agreement being fully vetted. There is a serious problem with the language of this contract. But will council leaders limit participation so that these issues are not identified and discussed?
That could happen under the current 10-minute time limit imposed when taxpayers and council members discuss topics.
that is not acceptable. There is no time limit for individuals to ask relevant, non-overlapping questions.
Taxpayers cannot afford to pass another fire contract with offending language. We cannot afford the false analysis of not disclosing the actual cost of the contract to the taxpayer.
Alderman Tim Howe, Bill Foley, and Vinnie Gebhardt will all be on the Finance Committee, with Board Chairman Steve McAllister playing a key role in determining how the January 30 fire contract ratification meeting will be conducted. becomes. they need to hear from you.
Call them and other council members and tell them not to rush ratification. Tell them you need to waive the 10 minute time limit.
If language problems are revealed and financial information is found to be incomplete, we will inform them that the contract must be refused until these problems are corrected by the Picocci government and the Firefighters Union.
Robert Cushman
Warwick
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