The report in the California Professional Firefighters Second Quarter publication is entitled, “Davis Firefighters Battle Organized Campaign to Discredit Local.” Ironically, the article itself is full of half-truths and distortions, with veiled and pointed attacks on many in the Davis community.
The tone gets heated from the start, referring to critics and reformers in the city of Davis as “haters.”
“At the height of the economic downturn, hostile local politicians and a cadre of bureaucrats itching to settle scores took aim at decades of progress in fire protection. As the employment situation has improved, many locals have felt the pressure easing,” they write. “Not so in Davis. If anything, the ‘haters’ are doubling down.”
“In late May, the Davis City Council voted to remove the fourth firefighter from its engine companies. Additionally, the council decided to shuffle medical staffing around, shifting resources away from the busiest downtown station. End result: diminished service to the citizens, all to save approximately $400,000,” the report continues.
The assertion is actually untrue, as the plan actually shifts resources toward the central fire station by putting five personnel in that station and adding additional coverage through boundary drop.
“Nobody is really credibly disputing the impact this will have on safety,” the report quotes Bobby Weist, President of Davis Professional Firefighters Local 3494. “But safety doesn’t seem to be part of the calculation for some of these folks. They’re just looking to cut.”
“Slashing fire staffing wasn’t all the council and its staff had up their sleeves. In a press release, the city unilaterally declared impasse with Local 3494, setting the stage for its second imposed contract in three years,” they continue. “The council supported the impasse declaration unanimously.”
There are a couple of strange comments here. First, the notion that the city “unilaterally” declared impasse – how else does one declare impasse? The second point is that “its second imposed contract in three years” – is very misleading.
This is the first time impasse has been declared on the firefighters, even though the statement would lead the unknowing reader to believe otherwise. I suppose they are referring to the DCEA impasse from three years ago, but if they are, then this would be the third impasse in three years since the city declared impasse in November on DCEA for the second time.
But it is misleading to say that they have imposed a contract because they have not imposed a contract yet – not on the firefighters and not on DCEA. They have only begun the impasse process which could culminate in an imposed contract.
Next the writer turns the attack to former interim fire chief Scott Kenley.
The firefighters write, “Providing cover for the attack was the city’s interim fire chief, Scott Kenley. Appointed a year ago, Kenley came to Davis from a stint consulting with a notorious law firm, Renne, Sloan, Holtzman, & Sakai. The firm had previously been known for its public support for using declarations of “fiscal emergency” as a tool to evade collective bargaining agreements.”
For good measure Mr. Weist adds, “When they hired Renne-Sloan’s guy as the interim chief, it was pretty clear that the fix was in.”
It will be interesting to see if Renne-Sloan decides to sue the firefighters for libel.
The article describes the “council votes” as “the latest in a series of highly publicized attacks on Davis firefighters in general, and personal attacks on Weist in particular.”
The firefighters write, “As happened during the run-up to the bankruptcy in Vallejo, area bloggers with lots of free time have resorted to caricature and character assassination. Confidential consultant reports were leaked to one blogger, suggesting open complicity on the city’s part in the personal attack campaign.”
It would be interesting to know who the blogger is that they refer to and what is the nature of the confidential consultant reports they are referring to. The only two reports the Vanguard has seen are the Davis Fire Audit, written by Scott Kenley, that was not ever confidential (and we only saw it when it was publicly released), and the Aaronson report which we did not see in full until Judge Maguire released the protective order and allowed the city to release the report.
The firefighters continue: “After trying to remain positive and deflect the attacks, Davis firefighters and the citizens they serve have been pushing back. A grassroots website and Facebook presence – “Friends of Davis Firefighters” – has given voice to members of the community who have previously been drowned out by the city’s mob mentality.”
“The shuffling shell game they have presented to justify the reductions may improve service somewhere for someone,” wrote Glen Byrns, a Davis man whose home was saved by Davis firefighters, “but if you are in my neighborhood it will mean a three-person crew will arrive and hold the line from outside until another crew arrives. In our case, it would have meant that my wife would also have lost much of what is dear to her.”
The report continues: “Weist hopes the public support generated through social media will help turn that third vote on the council and restore the fourth person on the engine.”
“All we’ve ever asked for was a meaningful dialog, but it is just falling on deaf ears,” they quote Bobby Weist. “It just seems like they don’t care. Their mission is to break our union. We’re not going to let them.”
It is unclear as to who the they are. The city council does not appear to want to break the union. They scheduled several roundtable discussions even after Mr. Weist misled the council by claiming that they were excluded from the process under which Mr. Kenley wrote his audit.
In the end, the council by a narrow margin disagreed with the firefighters and voted 3-2 to reducing staffing from 12 to 11.
The firefighters have refused to take the same concessions all other bargaining units have taken, so it is not really a surprise given that the contract expired a year ago that the impasse procedure would be underway.
The firefighters and their union had several opportunities to cooperate and have chosen not to work with the city. At the roundtable their only argument was for the status quo rather than finding ways to change.
One thing that now becomes clearer is the attitude of the firefighters to Scott Kenley and Renne-Sloan. Recall that in December, Mr. Weist got up to complain about his members being excluded from the process. We quickly found out they chose not to participate in the process.
We now know that this non-participation was likely intentional.
Last week, we ran a story chronicling the string of mistakes that Mr. Weist has made a union president in the last year, add this to it. He has impugned the integrity and the character of everyone in the city from the city council, to the former interim chief, to some anonymous blogger.
Does he really believe that having this report published, when he knows the city is going to find out, is going to help matters?
No one wants to break the union, but the union is going to break itself if they continue under this abrasive and contentious leadership. It is time for younger and more moderate members to step forward and take control before it really is too late.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
It appears to me that one reason for this is to put the CC members on notice, perhaps Rochelle most of all, to try to influence a reversal of the 3-2 vote…..
[quote]”Weist hopes the public support generated through social media will help turn that third vote on the council and restore the fourth person on the engine.”[/quote]
I think Mr. Weist is in for a big letdown if he thinks the public will get behind the firefighters union and restore the previous staffing. Everyone I’ve talked to is 100% behind the latest realignment and cuts. If anything, I believe more pressure would be brought to bear on those two council members that voted against the reduced staffing than getting a third to see it the union’s way.
Hope you are right GI….and that will be interesting to watch won’t it?
Personally I was disgusted by the two council members who voted against the cuts. It seemed to me that they had to hem and haw and search hard to come up with reasons for why they voted like they did. In my opinion it definately was not their finest hour.
Again agree; and think we have been around that one before. That is why watching them this time around will be interesting….my point!
“No one wants to break the union, but the union is going to break itself if they continue under this abrasive and contentious leadership.”
Does anyone have a sense of wether firefighters are distancing themselves from him? This report is an embarrassment to the department, the firefighters deserve to be represented by someone with more integrity.
I don’t believe that there is an organized campaign to discredit the union. I think that people are tired of the non-cooperation and non-collaboration by the Union president during the economic downturn. I’ll take a quote from the new trustee for the beleaguered City College of SF, “What was, no longer is.”
From the misinformation quoted from Bobby Weist, it is clear that he is angry. So angry, it makes me curious about what else he’s involved in. It must be humiliating for him to have everyone know that he was improperly promoted into his position over more qualified applicants, but that can’t be the only explanation. (I wonder how much time he is away doing union work using union bank hours and whether he is improperly using those hours to perform his regional union activities not directly related to Davis.)
He is very private and thus has very little connection to the Davis community beyond the fire house so the effort to make changes must look like an evil plot to him.
Ryan Kelly
[quote]He is very private and thus has very little connection to the Davis community beyond the fire house so the effort to make changes must look like an evil plot to him.[/quote]
This is an interesting observation. Up until now, I had seen Mr. Weist as at best a ruthless opportunist who believes it is his job to get as much from the city at any cost and at worst willing to lie about virtually anything where he saw an advantage to himself. You have presented a third possibility. That he actually believes his statements and that his cause is righteous. Being delusional is certainly a well established human characteristic. Perhaps I have been judging Mr. Weist too harshly.
i’d like to see a firefighter file for decertification, i know it’s unlikely to succeed, but at least it would raise the issue.
“Perhaps I have been judging Mr. Weist too harshly.”
and his treatment of dissenters in his ranks and in this community ([url]https://davisvanguard.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4736:firefighters-union-targets-struggling-westlake-market-in-retribution-for-advertising-on-the-vanguard&Itemid=79[/url])?
DP
[quote]and his treatment of dissenters in his ranks and in this community[/quote]
I am not defending the actions of Mr. Weist. Just pointing out that his perspective may be considerably different from my own and that up until now, I had not really entertained the notion that there might be a bigger gap than I had previously appreciated between his intent and his actions.