FOR THE RECORD

FOR THE RECORD

Sergeants' Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins has sometimes raised hackles on both sides of the bargaining table with his aggressive advocacy on matters ranging from disparities in health-benefit usage among city employees to salary relationships.

Last fall, he opted to reach contract terms that fit within the two-year framework of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association arbitration award.

Sergeant Mullins originally expressed some interest in a four-year deal similar to what the United Federation of Teachers had reached. His ardor cooled, however, once city officials made clear to him that they would not accommodate his desire to combine the better pay hikes in the two years of the PBA deal and the slightly greater increase that was a feature of the third year of the UFT pact.

After the unions representing Sanitation Workers and Firefighters both agreed to deals that mixed and matched the PBA and UFT terms, Mr. Mullins was informed that the latter part of their contracts, containing raises of 3 and 3.15 percent, was what he could expect for the same period. He was not pleased. In a Jan. 10 letter to Labor Relations Commissioner Jim Hanley that was obtained last week by this newspaper, Sergeant Mullins stated, "We believe that any effort by the City to cap SBA base salary increases for the 2005-2007 period based on [contracts] entered into with bargaining units other than the SBA will deprive the SBA of core rights that it is entitled to under law."

Besides objecting on those grounds, Mr. Mullins took matters a step further, demanding "an opportunity to intervene and participate in any such negotiations to the extent that the City asserts that such negotiations will establish a 'pattern' for SBA base salary increases ..."

Mr. Hanley responded that the city Collective Bargaining Law "affords you no right to intervene and participate in any negotiations for which you do not hold the bargaining certificate." He indicated some flexibility on the matter, however, by continuing, "Feel free to contact any of the Unions engaging in collective bargaining with the City of New York. When they ask you to intervene in their negotiations, I will have no objection."

The city's chief negotiator is apparently relying on the likelihood that other labor leaders will not welcome Mr. Mullins's kibitzing while they play their contract poker.

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If statistics were snow-flakes, the ongoing numbers dispute between the Fire Department and fire unions would have amounted to a January blizzard.

A squall broke out earlier this month after the FDNY abruptly transferred a Bronx Battalion Chief because response times at his firehouse weren't falling fast enough. The department hit the Uniformed Fire Officers' Association with a flurry of bar charts and pie graphs, and demanded that response times drop to an average figure compiled from three-year-old stats.

The UFOA responded with its own array of figures and forecasts and said response times had improved despite a reduced number of engine companies and increased alarm calls.

Not to be left out in the cold, the Uniformed Firefighters' Association Jan. 27 hailed 2005 as "the busiest year in history for New York City firefighters." Firefighters responded to 485,702 calls last year, the union said, which is an increase of 29,013 from 2004, and tops the 1977 record of 459,567 calls. FDNY spokesman Frank Gribbon said that in terms of incidents "that may be true," but, since no two statistics or snowflakes were ever alike, "the term 'the busiest year in FDNY history' in this context is rather subjective, I think."

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The fourth annual fundraiser in memory of David Arce and Michael Boyle, friends from childhood who as members of Engine Co. 33 in Manhattan were two of the firefighters who were killed during the World Trade Center rescue efforts, will be held Feb. 4 between 4 and 7 p.m. at PD O'Hurley's Bar&Grill at 174 West 72nd St.

Admission is $40 and covers food, beer, wine and a commemorative shirt. All proceeds will go to the Arce-Boyle Memorial Fund.

For further information, call Maria Zingone at (646) 734-6795.