Cite FDNY For Anti-Union Bias After UFA Ban; BCB: Can't Exclude Safety Rep Over Public Criticism

By ARI PAUL

The Fire Department acted with anti-union motivation when it excluded a Uniformed Firefighters Association officer from certain department meetings after he and the union's president presented concerns about the department's business dealings in testimony during a City Council hearing, the Board of Collective Bargaining has ruled.

FIND FDNY VIOLATED FREE-SPEECH RIGHTS: Uniformed Firefighters Association Health and Safety Officer William Romaka (left) was improperly banned from Fire Department meetings with its primary truck manufacturer after he criticized the firm at a City Council hearing and a press conference, the city Board of Collective Bargaining ruled. UFA President Steve Cassidy (right) accused the FDNY of a pattern of retaliating against those who question its actions.

In April 2006, the UFA filed a complaint alleging that a Deputy Commissioner retaliated against UFA Health and Safety Officer William Romaka by excluding him from department meetings with representatives of the fire truck manufacturer Seagrave.

Questioned Performance

Mr. Romaka and a safety officer from the Uniformed Fire Officers Association had attended other meetings with Seagrave representatives since July 2005. On April 4, 2006, representatives of the UFA, including Mr. Romaka, testified before the City Council's Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee and raised concerns about the condition of Seagrave vehicles and the company's repair record. Mr. Romaka testified that the concerns came from interviews with Firefighters in addition to information he obtained from the department's meetings with Seagrave.

After the hearing, the UFA held a press conference, in which union President Steve Cassidy, citing information Mr. Romaka gave him from meetings he attended with Seagrave representatives, called the company's trucks "jalopies" and accused the department of "mismanagement."

The next day, Mr. Romaka was informed that he could not attend department meetings with Seagrave representatives. The day after that, a department official told him he could not go to the FDNY's Technology Oversight Committee Meetings as well. The union claimed that this was a backlash for "embarrassing" the department. According to the BCB's decision earlier this month, then-Deputy Commissioner of Technology and Support Services Milton Fischberger, now retired, had believed that due to the testimony, "Romaka's presence at future meetings would hurt his ability as a manager to deal with the vendor in the future and that vendors may be less than candid with him if these matters were disclosed to outside parties."

'Protected Speech'

In its decision, the BCB found that the testimony the union officers gave in addition to statements to the press about their concerns with Seagrave was protected activity and that Mr. Romaka was entitled to be at the meetings because of his union position as a safety officer.

"Furthermore, we have held that even disparaging speech constitutes protected activity when it is indirectly related to the business relationship and is in furtherance of the collective welfare of employees," the decision stated. "Similarly, in this instance, we find that Romaka was engaged in protected activity when he attended the Seagrave and TOC Meetings and conveyed that information to his union president, and that the union president was engaged in protected activity when he testified before the New York City Council."

In establishing that the department wrongfully retaliated against Mr. Romaka, the BCB specifically pointed to an e-mail Mr. Fischberger sent to Mr. Romaka after the Council hearing saying, "Your use of information gained by attending these meetings corrupt the intention and any value you might have brought to the table. It is unfortunate that you (your union) have decided to bring your own agenda and distort the truth for your own political purpose."

Didn't Ban UFOA

It added that the former Deputy Commissioner also did not revoke invitations to representatives of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, whose representatives also spoke at the Council hearing on the Seagrave trucks.

"Considering the timing, tone and content of this e-mail, along with the disparity in treatment between the UFA and UFOA, we find that the Deputy Commissioner was motivated by anti-union animus when he determined that Romaka's presence was longer warranted at Seagrave and TOC Meetings," it stated.

The city had unsuccessfully argued before the board that Mr. Romaka had distorted the information that had been presented in meetings between the department and Seagrave and that Mr. Fischberger wanted to exclude Mr. Romaka from the meetings because he thought that company representatives would not feel comfortable with him in the room, which could potentially damage the department's ability to improve its services.

'Couldn't Do My Job'

"We felt that it was adversely affecting my ability to do my job and advocate for the health and safety of our membership," Mr. Romaka said in a phone interview last week.

The BCB has cited other cases of worker retaliation in the Fire Department under the administration of Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. In 2007, it found in two separate decisions that the department committed an improper labor practice against Electrician Brian Colella when it disciplined and suspended him for filing grievances against supervisors.

Chief Fire Department spokesman Francis X. Gribbon said that there is no history of retaliation, but that the department has been on the defensive against the UFA because the union has attacked at times with information that was not true.

'No Retaliation Pattern'

"There's no pattern whatsoever with this stuff," he said. "It's not retaliation, it's a credibility issue."

UFA President Cassidy hailed the decision, but said that it pointed out an endemic problem of Mr. Scoppetta's administration.

"The bottom line is that every time we're critical of the department [over] their failed policies, they seek some sort of retribution," he said. "The Scoppetta administration has been reluctant to do anything other than when they are forced to do it."

Mr. Cassidy said that former administrations were more receptive to union issues, although, Mr. Fischberger told Mr. Romaka that his intention prior to the 2006 Council hearing and press conference was to work with the two fire unions on the issue of Seagrave trucks.

As another example of what he called the department's vindictive streak, Mr. Cassidy pointed to the reassignment of three fire officers after the Deutsche Bank Building fire last summer, which the UFOA has said prematurely and wrongly sullied their reputations. The department and the city have defended the move, saying that the reassignment did not amount to a suspension or other disciplinary action.

Reacting to the BCB decision, Council Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee Chairman Miguel Martinez said he valued the ability of the fire unions to testify candidly and believed that the case of Mr. Romaka was atypical.

'They Speak Their Minds'

"The unions, both the UFA and UFOA, they pretty much testified freely," he said, recalling the meeting at which Mr. Romaka testified. "It's strange that type of retaliation took place."

He noted that the UFA continues to contest the integrity of the Fire Department's controversial building inspection policy, instituted last November in reaction to the two Firefighter deaths at the Deutsche Bank Building. The protocol increased the hours of inspection fire units conduct per week.

Other union presidents representing fire officers and Emergency Medical Service responders said they did not see a trend of anti-union retaliation in the department under Mr. Scoppetta's administration.

'He's No Von Essen'

"We haven't seen that type of action since Tom Von Essen," UFOA President John J. McDonnell said of the case, speaking of the former UFA president who served as Fire Commissioner under Mayor Giuliani and frequently clashed with his union and its rank and file.

Mr. Romaka said that since the 2006 Council hearing, he has been able to express the union's concerns on other Firefighter safety issues, but only in what he called a "limited capacity." He believed that the BCB decision would allow him to address other issues.

"I believe they are going to have to realize that we have to be part of the process now," Mr. Romaka said of the department. "We'd like to move forward on some of these initiatives."