New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Fire Union President Ricci re-elected; what it means
NEW HAVEN — Battalion Chief Frank Ricci is taking up another term representing the firefighter’s union.
Ricci was re-elected as Fire Union Local 825 president for his advocacy around union members’ rights and interests.
“It’s an honor to be trusted by New Haven firefighters to represent them,” Ricci said. “We represent their pension staffing, and staffing directly relates to firefighter and community safety . ... I love New Haven and I love the firefighters that I have the opportunity to represent.”
Ricci will have completed 21 years with the New Haven Fire Department today. He was first elected as union president in 2015 after serving as vice president and being a career-long union member.
“We’re really proud of our accomplishments in our first term and the thing that lets New Haven firefighters stand out is we returned the power to the executive board so things are more transparent, there’s more accountability and the members feel better represented than in the past,” he said.
As president, Ricci works closely with Fire Chief John Alston, Labor Relations Director Thomas McCarthy, Chief Executive Officer Sean Matteson, the mayor’s office and the 302 members of Local 825.
“As a new chief and an outside chief, there’s always going to be a process of establishing rapport, communication and mutual respect,” Alston said of working with Ricci. “We have gotten to that state where we communicate well and we have mutual respect.
What happens in many organizations, especially public safety and service, many times the relationship between labor and management can become contentious — ours is not. Our goal is to serve the citizens and visitors of New Haven professionally and keep the health and safety of our workforce at the forefront.”
Ricci credits the good relationships the union has with city officials to the members’ willingness to work with the city.
“Sometimes, I don’t always have the luxury of being a nice guy in the media or the news because I take things head on, but it’s also one of the sources I’m so effective,” Ricci said. “At the end of the day, I have great relationships, our (executive) board has great relationships and City Hall knows if we’re working in the interest of firefighters and the public, we’ll be there right at the front supporting them.”
Additionally, 50 members ran for the nine executive board positions, more than any have run in the union’s history, Ricci said. “We take that as a sign that our members want to be involved and we encourage that,” he said. He congratulated Vice President Patrick Cannon, Sergeant at Arms Dan Coughlin and all executive board members on their elections.
Ricci’s platform centered around the current labor contract negotiations and the
union’s vote to leave the Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association of Connecticut, a union that represents the state’s fire departments.
“We want to take the job that a lot of our firefighters have and turn it back into a profession. (For) Our newer members, which is over 50 percent of our department, benefits were slashed in that contract and we’re working to get back those benefits.”
“What happens with management is they want more work at a lower cost and labor wants more benefits and salary for reduced working condition and they are both wrong,” Alston said. “What must happen is what we’ve attempted to bring to New Haven, which is effective dialogue, communication from both parties to ensure our ultimate mission which is to ensure the health and safety with our workforce. With his re-election, I believe that will happen.”
Ricci said he and Alston are working to get a budget amendment passed that would restore the four officer positions for Engine Company 8 because it’s artificially inflating the department’s overtime reports. “It appears in the budget that they’re paying overtime to staff that company when really that company is within our minimum staffing,” Ricci said.
The union is also suing the UPFFA for allegedly
misappropriating funds and collecting membership dues after Local 825 ended its membership January 2016.
The Local 825 executive board voted to end its “legislative only” membership with UPFFA because they felt “we need to get fiscal house in order and we could do an equal if not better job at the state capital for our members,” Ricci said. The lawsuit alleges UPFFA continued billing Local 825 monthly for membership dues backed dated to January 2016. Local 825 filed a lawsuit for a judgment that members don’t owe backdated dues and they’re seeking the return of at least $96,000 in dues they believe were misappropriated, Ricci said. The case is being heard in state Superior Court in Hartford.
Ricci is one of 20 firefighters who sued former Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and other city officials in 2004 after the city threw out results of two promotional exams because few blacks firefighters earned high enough scores to make promotion. In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the city violated the plaintiff firefighters’ civil rights by not promoting based on race. The city paid about $3 million to the 19 white and one Hispanic firefighters and to an attorney as part of a 2011 settlement.
In February, Yale Repertory Theatre will show a play based on the landmark labor case of Ricci v. DeStefano titled “Good Faith: Four Chats about Race and the New Haven Fire Department.” The play is described as “an imaginative response to transcripts, interviews and the many histories of New Haven.”