PAX Centurion - January / February 2013

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • January/February 2013 • Page 9 Treasury Notes: “Duke” Fitzgerald, BPPA Treasurer A look back I started to write this article as a quick reflection of the past year and all the highlights that happened. Then as I began to write it I couldn’t think of that many highlights. I first reflected on the B.P.P.A.’s golf tournament that we played last summer at the GeorgeWright Golf Course which was a lot of fun. Friends of ours from both Providence and Florida traveled up to participate in the tournament. Then I thought about the B.P.P.A.’s Recognition Banquet which we celebrated at The Seaport Hotel in October. That is always a fun event when we bring together both the old generation and the new generation in the same room. Anyone who has never attended one of those events should give it some series thought this fall. It has never been a bad time. Then the next highlight I thought of was last November when theAssociation awarded $40,000.00 in scholarships to the members children to assist with the fur- thering of their education. That is money well spent and raised by this very periodi- cal that you are reading. Then I ran out of ideas to highlight. Then one afternoon as I was driving around I was on South Hampton St. and I saw a Poland Spring truck delivering water to fire headquarters. That very sight got me to thinking how the police department treats the members who serve it. I got to wondering if the firefighters have to pay for their own water. I mean is there a bigger insult to a working person then to not supply water in the work place? Then that thought only began to trigger other thoughts of insults. The first and foremost is our contract or lack thereof. I mean I understand that the City cannot just give money away. I get that, but do they have to treat us like undeserving animals? Trying to put this all into contrast I thought about the view the Department takes with all of us. They want us to go out to work and be proactive. They want us to be tentative, alert, polite, considerate, kind, gentle, and friendly, they want us to be a positive representa- tive of the City of Boston. That is all fine and dandy for them. Then what do they do to us in return? Oh they are proactive when assisting the people who want to file complaints against us. They are friendly to those who call and say that the cops did something wrong. It seems that there is too much effort and con- centration being put on let’s catch them doing something that they shouldn’t be doing. Instead of the thinking, what can we do to make things easier for the cops? Let’s just say for a minute that the City negotiators approached our bargaining committee with a fair and open minded attitude. Again, I get the big picture that they cannot just give the money away. Let’s just say that their attitude was this, ‘the fire department cleaned our clock during the last round of negotiations but it isn’t fair that they make that much more than the police, what do we need to do to try and make this right?’ Offer us what you already are paying them [the firefighters] and this may all be over. Then both sides can move on to other issues that need their attention. I sincerely do not believe that we are out of line asking that you pay us what you pay the firefighters. Yea, we are not in Kansas anymore and that would never happen but what if?Would it be fair to think that the work force may be a little more encouraged? That the men and women may be a little more enthusiastic when they go into work? That if the Department treated us the way they want us to treat others then they may get what they wanted?All this work force is asking for is a fair and equitable contract. We are not demanding that we make more than anyone in the City. We are not even asking to be paid more than the Firefighters; all we are asking is to be paid just what you are paying them. Offer us what you already are paying them and this may all be over. Then both sides can move on to other issues that need their attention. I sincerely do not believe that we are out of line asking that you pay us what you pay the firefighters. In the current society in which we live, be it right or wrong, we measure ourselves by how much money we make. In sports for instance, if some team pays C.C. Sabathia forty-five mil- lion dollars over three years, well we all know that JustinVerlander is going to want and get more. The only way for Verlander to prove to everyone that he is a better pitcher than Sabathia is to be paid more than him. Well to get the same money at a minimum. The same applies to the City of Boston. To show that we are no less than the firefighters then we need to get at a minimum the same money they got. If in those same negotiations the City cleaned the Firefighters clock and only paid them 9% instead of about the 20% they re- ceived, you know they would be using that against us. They would be telling us that they cannot offer us more then they gave the fire. Instead though, they are trying to use us to clean up the error they committed with fire and that is not right, it is not fair and we will not accept it. Well, so much for a “positive feel good article”. Hopefully next year this same time we will be able to write about the decent raise we received, about how we no longer have to pay out of our own pockets to have water in the stations, how we do not have to pay to belong to a gym in our own stations. Oh that is right, do the fire- fighters have to pay for their gyms? I think we all know the answer to that one too. The Department wants us all to be healthy and stay in shape but do it on your own time and pay for it out of your own pocket. I don’t know how all the gyms are run around the depart- ment but in B2 you used to have to pay $20 a month to belong to the gym. Then with the NewYear and all the increases that have occurred, the membership fee was raised by over 10%. Now it costs each person $22.50 a month to be able to work out in the gym. So the gym membership was increased by more than 10% but it is out of the question that the same Department offer us a 10% raise. Again, do as I say and not as I do. Does the insulting ever stop?