Firefighters to Protest Lack of Contract Monday

Several hundred Orange County firefighters are expected to carry picket signs at a rally Monday at Anaheim Stadium to protest their lack of a contract for the second straight year.

Last month, the Orange County Fire Authority’s board of directors imposed a benefit package for firefighters that included no pay boost but increased the amount of money the authority contributes to the firefighters’ retirement.

About 250 members of the Orange County Professional Firefighters Assn., which represents 700 full-time firefighters, protested the vote at that meeting, arguing that their members are the lowest paid firefighters in the county and receive 30% less than Los Angeles County firefighters.

“We tried desperately to reach out to the politicians [to] recognize that their firefighters are Priority One,” union President Joe Kerr said Wednesday. “That failed. What we’re trying to do now is to reach out to the citizens who we serve and ask them to let their city councils know they want their fire department to take care of its employees.”

Supervisor William G. Steiner, who sits on the authority board, said directors were sympathetic to firefighters’ arguments but simply don’t have the money to give them. The authority has been operating with an annual $4-million deficit.

“Our firefighters need to receive a competitive wage, but the Fire Authority only recently passed its first balanced budget,” Steiner said. “The offer we provided was what’s in our means to pay. I don’t think a demonstration is going to change that reality.”

Firefighters will gather across the street and march to the stadium to begin picketing at 5:45 p.m. for the 7:05 p.m. game between the Angels and the Colorado Rockies. Pickets will ask game spectators to wear stickers to support firefighters and to fill out a survey to be used in future contract negotiations, Kerr said.

The rally is scheduled to last until 9 p.m.

The authority hasn’t signed a contract with its firefighters since it was formed after the county bankruptcy. Firefighters received a 3.5% pay boost in May 1995, deferred six months because of the bankruptcy, through their final contract with the county.