Why the Austin City Council should accept federal oversight of the Fire Department.
Though the proposed settlement negotiated by the U.S. Justice Department with the city of Austin isn’t perfect, it offers the best opportunity in recent times to overcome years of stagnation and failed initiatives to build a professional Fire Department that reflects the diversity of the citizens it serves.
The settlement, called a consent decree, gives oversight to the Justice Department. While a consent decree is not the desired remedy, it is necessary, given the Justice Department’s findings that the Fire Department’s 2012 hiring procedures discriminated against African-American and Hispanic applicants.
We urge the Austin City Council to approve the agreement when it takes up the measure Thursday to resolve the issue and avoid a protracted and expensive legal fight with the Justice Department. The alternative is a court battle in which the city could lose any ability to negotiate terms.
Oversight by the Justice Department would go a long way in changing backwards culture in the Fire Department, which permits the firefighters union — the employees — to maintain a vise-grip over hiring procedures. While the union is an important partner in the operations of the department, hiring authority rightly belongs to the employer — the fire chief and city management.
Currently, the union essentially has veto power over the fire chief ’s authority to hire cadets. And the union has not been shy about exercising that power. That is the primary reason the union and the city have been unable to reach agreement on a labor contract.
Bob Nicks, president of the Austin Firefighters Association, told us that the union is pressuring the City Council to reject the consent decree and instead adopt hiring procedures developed by the union. Got that?
Nicks points to positive results his plan has shown in improving diversity. But he misses the point: Hiring decisions should be left to the fire chief.
Few, if any, companies operate as Austin’s Fire Department has, with employees having significant control over hiring and recruiting procedures. It’s certainly not the case in the business world, where employers make those decisions. Unions, by contrast, typically focus on improving working conditions, pay and benefits for employees. Nearly all city departments function that way, including the Austin Police Department. It is the police chief who controls hiring and recruiting. For unknown reasons, the Fire Department has operated outside those rules for years and is one of the reasons the department is under federal scrutiny.
In nearly 20 years of negotiating labor contracts with firefighters, the city, either because of incompetence or politics, has been unable to correct that imbalance. And the union seems more intent on flexing its muscle in employment decisions ever since the city hired its first female fire chief, Rhoda Mae Kerr.
City Manager Marc Ott, Kerr’s boss, rightly is standing firm this time around. The impasse has left firefighters without an employment contract as well as the pay raises that go along with a labor agreement.
But the consequences go beyond the nearly 900 firefighters employed by the city. At a time when Hispanics, African-Americans and other minorities make up a majority of Austin’s population, the Fire Department is stuck in another era.
Consider that Austin’s Fire Department, which has doubled in size since 1983, has fewer African-American firefighters today — 44 — than it had then, 47.
During that period, Hispanic firefighters increased from about 12 percent, or 64, to about 19 percent, or 164, of the department’s ranks. Even so, they are significantly underrepresented given their share of Austin’s population. It’s worth noting that the Fire Department made its greatest strides in diversity under a former consent decree in place from 1977 to 1983. As many of those hires reach retirement age, the urgency to craft a fair, nondiscriminatory, professional hiring system to fit the needs of Austin becomes clear. The consent decree offers a way forward in meeting those goals.
The proposed consent decree is not perfect. But it does prohibit the city from using selection criteria that have an adverse impact on African-American and Hispanic applicants. It allows the Fire Department to complete its 2013 hiring process, which has been frozen for more than a year. The Fire Department’s effectiveness could potentially be hindered if vacancies aren’t filled in the near future. The city also is required to set aside $780,000 to satisfy legitimate back-pay claims. The decree would remain in effect for four years, which is enough time to measure progress.
Nicks blames the city for the department’s lack of diversity. Certainly the city has had its low points, including botching testing procedures. But in a system that parses hiring decisions, there is plenty of finger-pointing but little accountability.
Council members should take the opportunity to bring the Fire Department into compliance regarding its hiring procedures. The consent decree helps clear the way to achieve that while addressing procedures found to be discriminatory. The Justice Department is clear that the city did not intentionally discriminate against minorities, but it’s just as clear that harm has been done to minority applicants, the Fire Department and its reputation.
Austin needs a 21st century Fire Department that is accountable to the taxpayers who have made our firefighters among the highest-paid in the state and nation. That is unlikely to happen without giving the fire chief exclusive authority to make hiring and recruiting decisions. As the employer, the fire chief should be responsible for hiring procedures. And if those decisions fail, it is the chief who will be held accountable.