(Members of the United Retired Firefighters Association)

February 23, 2001

Peter L. Gorman
President - UFOA
225 Broadway (Suite 401)
New York, NY 10007

Dear Mr. Gorman,

I understand you were present at the URFA Health Benefits Seminar, on 2/15/01, held at UFA Headquarters. I regret that I was unable to attend, due to a prior commitment, however I did forward my retiree group’s questions in advance.

I’m writing to you because I have been apprised that you made reference to the letter(s) I sent to the UFA and President Gallagher’s response, if you will, to those letters in the December 2000 issue of “Firelines”. Of course, he chose not to publish my letter(s) in the “Firelines” and merely succeeded to put a spin on genuine retiree issues. I’ve also been told that you questioned why certain retirees were willing to publish my concerns in their respective newsletters. It worries me that the unions would, seemingly, like to control which issues are open for discussion. One might compare that to “book burning”.

I have been forewarned that you do not entertain any phone calls or correspondence from “firefighters”, however, since you chose to resurrect my letters and make comments on their content, I will take this opportunity to defend some of the facts laid out in those letters. Additionally, in keeping with “The Keystone’s” desire for the truth, we publish both sides of any issue and let all members decide, for themselves, where the truth can be found. You, will find it here: ( https://www.angelfire.com/pa4/55keystone/njohn.htm)

For the record, let me re-state the position of the UFOA on the recent VSF litigation. “The UFOA is simply not accountable for the passage and consequences of the 1970 amendment to the Administrative Code which altered the definition of retirees eligible for benefits from the VSF.”Mr. Gorman, that excuse speaks volumes! All parties, including the courts, have conveniently “passed the buck” back to the legislature.

Let us review the following statement, made to me by Mr. Gallagher, in the “Firelines”: “If you are so concerned about ‘honesty’, then I am certain that you know that the ’Inquiry Bill’ was a way to obtain legislative approval for expanding the benefit without regard to what effect it may have on the entire VSF scheme.” Mr. Gorman, that statement is a total and unabashed fabrication of the truth. i.e. A Lie ! The VSF Inquiry was not an “ad-on” bill, it was simply an Inquiry! No amount of rhetoric or innuendo can change that fact! It did not have the power to expand the VSF nor could it award any moneys to anyone. It was empowered, solely, with the duty to review the original contract and legislative history and decide who were the eligible beneficiaries of the Fund. Period! If the Inquiry concluded that the contract, and legislative history, specifically stipulated that the VSF benefit was for Service Retirees only, as we have so often been assured by both unions, that would have ended the Inquiry. But no, the unions forced disabled retirees into court and the court concluded that it was the legislation that made the exclusion.

Mr. Gorman, please tear down that wall (of silence, rhetoric, innuendo and misstatements) by asking for an Inquiry!

Now, I humbly beseech you to dissect another statement made to me by Mr. Gallagher: “Your version of the history of the VSF and the position of the union in regard thereto is completely inaccurate.…...The reality is that from the moment it was proposed, the VSF was meant solely for service retirees. The UFA records, the legislative history and unanimous Court decisions have supported that view. The VSF was intended as a way to supplement the retirement incomes of service retirees which has been surpassed by both line-of-duty and non-service disability retiree pensions. The agreement with the City to sponsor legislation creating the VSF was conditioned upon it being limited to service retirees. No amount of historical revision can change that fact.”

Well, Mr. Gorman, when I first read the aforementioned statement by Mr. Gallagher, in the “Firelines’, I wanted to vomit. If you read my response (enclosed) to Mr. Gallagher, you will note that I was extremely kind to him, when I said his statement was untrue. I won’t resort to semantics this time. His statement was an outright lie ! Also enclosed, please find a list of 78 Vested Retireeswho enjoy the VSF (Defined Benefit). Alas, you may even see a few familiar names among those Non-Service Retirees, who continue to collect the VSF (Defined Benefit). Are there any more “historical revisions” to the facts ?

I could go on and on with the remainder of Mr. Gallagher’s response but I’ll leave that for you to peruse, along with my reply, and trust that you will weigh the facts and not the spin. I respectfully ask one thing of you and that is to grasp, in your heart, the reason why disability retirees know they were disenfranchised and deserve an Inquiry. You will then come to understand why they yearn for the truth, because only the truth will set everyone free !

Additionally, it is my contention that the unions must find new and innovative ways to enhance the contract gains of the active member without diminishing, in any way, the hard fought gains won by retirees. The active member must be cognizant, of the fact, that retirees lobby not only for themselves but for Prospective Retirees. Every gain for the retiree is a gain for the active member. Retirees will continue that fight, even if it requires hiring a lobbyist. It only stands to reason that active members should be fighting for retiree issues now, as they will be reaping those benefits sooner then would be expected. Retirees have become very active with the New York State legislature and will continue to knock on, or down, the doors of those legislators who must be educated to our needs. Hopefully, the union’s political choices will mirror those candidates backed by retirees.

All this being said, I feel the much needed spark in communications, between the unions and retirees, has been rekindled. The Keystone Retirees will continue to be players in this renewed effort and will maintain their firm desire to work with both the UFA and UFOA, when necessary, for the benefit of all active and retired members.

cc:                                                                                         In Friendship & Brotherhood,
UFA
URFA
KRFA

John R. Gilleeny                       
John R. Gilleeny, Pres.                      
Keystone-FDNY-Retirees                      

Von Essen's Feeling Heat Cheers turn to jeers as unions battle fire commish
By MICHELE McPHEE
Daily News Staff Writer - 3/25/01

Five years ago, when Thomas Von Essen became the first firefighter to head the country's largest fire department, the 11,000 members of the rank and file were ecstatic. Finally, one of their own would be the commissioner.

But now Von Essen's tenure is marred by dissension, even though the number of fatal fires has plummeted during his reign.

He is at odds with the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, the militant union that represents senior commanders. The union has groused that the commissioner is a tyrant and grumbled that he is Mayor Giuliani's puppet.

To drive home their point, the association and the union that represents Emergency Medical Service employees passed a no-confidence vote against him this month.

Both unions have continued a campaign against the commissioner. Last week, they derided him for putting new digital radios in use without testing them in the field — a move that prompted the FDNY to pull the radios.

Yesterday, another union, the Uniformed Firefighters Association, held a news conference to demand an outside investigation into the radio issue and blast Von Essen for allegedly trying to downplay the danger to a firefighter who tried to send a Mayday call over one of the devices.

"Von Essen had our support in the beginning. We're always happy when someone from labor elevates to a position like commissioner," said Capt. Pete Gorman, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association.

"What went wrong? The first thing he did was get rid of two chiefs — tough, confident administrators," Gorman said. "Then he became too power hungry. He did not let his chief of department run the department. He tried to micromanage. Now we have no confidence in his leadership."

Von Essen insists the association's attack is motivated by pettiness and ego after he transferred two chiefs who had admitted handing in bogus subordinate evaluations — 30 copies of the same form. He said fire chiefs, who make $120,000 a year, are not doing their job managing underlings.

Since he took the helm, Von Essen has downsized the number of senior chiefs, from 24 to 10. The number of deputy chiefs also has decreased, to 49 from 70, drops that are part of Von Essen's plan to "broadband," or combine titles of battalion and deputy chiefs, in what he calls an effort to promote fire officers based on merit rather than Civil Service exam results.

Von Essen himself never became an officer, but rose to the top after spending 15 years in one of the city's busiest firehouses: Ladder Co. 42 in the South Bronx. He joined the FDNY in 1970, when he was 24, a month after he left service in the Navy during the Vietnam War.

Then, in 1993, he assumed the presidency of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, bringing a mix of political acumen and tough-guy tenacity to the union. He also brought the members a few things they didn't want: a merger with Emergency Medical Service and a crackdown on sick leave abuse.

After he was appointed fire commissioner in March 1996, Von Essen said he began an uphill battle to change a culture as ingrained as any in New York labor lore. Even during an era when the number of fires has steadily declined, fire officers are resistant to new training techniques and to taking on additional tasks, he said.

"Many people feel their duty is to stay in that firehouse and respond to fires. I feel that in addition to that duty, there is a responsibility to be really good at what you do whether or not you have a lot of fire activity," Von Essen said.

"The amount of fire activity we have in this city has greatly diminished, and with it, the level of expertise. If you don't replace fire duty with additional training ... it is going to have an impact on firefighter safety."

But the new regime at the Uniformed Firefighters Association has accused Von Essen of losing touch with the firefighters under him.

"He's betrayed the firefighters and the fire service," said William Mirro, recording secretary of the union. "He has a blatant disregard for members' rights."

Still, other firefighters have applauded Von Essen as an aggressive leader who has moved the historic FDNY forward.

"He's doing a good job, and a lot of us are behind him," said Engine Co. 205 Battalion Chief James Richards.

Von Essen has changed the curriculum at the Fire Academy to make the training adaptable to the tasks they perform everyday, such as unsnaking hoses as opposed to lifting weights. He launched an aggressive recruiting campaign to diversify the predominantly white-male department. He opened a new firehouse on Staten Island, and rebuilt a dilapidated one in the Bronx.

And, last week, his petition for a $44 million upgrade to the FDNY training academy on Randalls Island was approved.

"The Fire Department is 100 years of tradition unimpeded by progress," said former FDNY and NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir. "This is a department with incredibly brave people, but they are reluctant to change. Tom Von Essen is an honest, sincere, responsible fire commissioner."

This week, Giuliani is expected to announce that the Fire Department will take over the troubled city's Buildings Department — another coup for Von Essen, who said he has not regretted even his worst day as fire commissioner.

"I love these guys," he said. "Even though there is so much dishonesty by some of the people in the unions, I don't think I will ever be sorry that I've done this."

'PROTECTION' FOR UNION MEMBERS NOT DEAD YET'
Monday,March 26,2001
By MAGGIE HABERMAN - NY Post

Union boss rips paycheck clause. A push for so-called "paycheck protection," the poison pill that President Bush wants in a federal campaign-finance bill, could still sink the legislation.

New York labor leaders, many calling it "paycheck deception," were thrilled when the measure - which calls for unions to ask members' consent before spending dues money on political activity - was voted down last week during Senate hearings on the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform bill. "There [aren't] any members asking for this change - it's reactionary, right-wing politicians" who want it, said Dennis Hughes, New York state AFL-CIO president.

"To us, it kills the legitimacy of it," said Hughes, who noted that 40 percent of the candidates his group backs are Republicans.

United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten agreed, charging the move is a veiled attempt to curb union political power, which traditionally is thrown behind Democrats.

"On a federal level, all this is is payback time," she said.

But Hughes, Weingarten and others are watching closely to see if the issue rears its head again.

That's because Bush said in a statement of principle that he wants the campaign-finance bill, sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), to feature a "paycheck protection" clause.

The White House said last week that Bush hasn't said whether he'll veto the bill if the provision isn't in it.

The "paycheck amendment" - introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) - would have led to sweeping changes in the labor laws, as well as forced corporations to get their shareholders' consent before treasury funds are used to play politics.

While Hatch was mum on the issue at the end of last week, it's possible that someone else could resurrect it in the form of a reworked amendment.

Either way, the decade-long debate on the issue is far from over.

Since 1992, six states have adopted some form of a "paycheck protection" law.

Like Bush, supporters of the measure say it gives more control to Republican union members, who make up about 40 percent of labor nationwide, and who may not want to support the same political ideals their Democratic leadership does.

"Workers simply have a right to be able to direct the resources they've earned where they see fit," said Pete Sepp, spokesman for the Washington-based National Taxpayers Union.

But labor leaders say it's a gun aimed at diluting their power to lobby on any issue - including matters like contracts and pensions.

Hughes argued it would create a "gray area" where union foes can argue that almost any kind of lobbying is political.

"It's all in the interpretation," he said. "That's why it's so attractive to people who don't believe in labor's place in the economic balance, because you could push this to the nth degree."

One rank-and-filer at District Council 37, the city's largest municipal union, said "members should be given as much choice as possible" on how their dollars are spent, and that, if asked, most "would probably say they want to keep their money."

But the worker stressed that laborers also like their unions' lobbying powers.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that if there was a real campaign about this, the same people who would vote [for "paycheck protection"] the first time would vote [against it] the second time."

The main law dealing with this issue now is a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court ruling saying workers have a right not to pay the part of their union dues used for political activities.

But the ruling doesn't address how unions should notify their members about it.

In most New York unions, members are notified at the end of the year that some of their dues were spent on political activities, and they're told they can get a rebate.

Backers of the McCain-Feingold bill say their legislation would codify the Supreme Court ruling.

Keystone's..... (John Gilleeny's) response

Subj: Re: Keystone-RFDNY-Retirees
Date: 3/2/01 1:52:12 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: Fdnykey

To: pgorman@ufoa.org
Dear Mr. Gorman,

Thank you for responding to my letter , however, I can only assume you didn't read it.

It would make me very happy if a Service Retiree's COLA would not be offset by the VSF, ONLY if a Disability Retire's COLA would not be offset by the same VSF they have been excluded from receiving.

It would also make me very happy, when you do read my letter, if you would respond to the information and questions I provided and asked.

In hopes of better communications, I remain

Sincerely yours,
John Gilleeny

04/09/2001 - Monday
Documents show FDNY radio problems
by William Murphy
Staff Writer - Newsday

The new radios that firefighters rely on in life-threatening situations were twice returned to the manufacturer because of design problems, according to internal Fire Department documents.

In addition, the documents show that top officials were notified March 14, the day after the new Motorola radios were put into service, that there were problems.

Yet the department did not pull the radios out of service until March 20, a day after a Queens firefighter collapsed and his call for help could not be heard by most of the firefighters on the scene.

Much of the information to date about the radio snafu has come from documents compiled by fire unions and City Comptroller Alan Hevesi, a Democratic candidate for mayor.

Another Democratic mayoral candidate, City Council Speaker Peter Vallone (D-Astoria) is expected to speak on the issue tomorrow, when the council conducts an oversight hearing on the radio issue.

Fire union officials say problems with the radios were reported during testing at the Fire Academy in January and February.

Department officials have maintained for the past several weeks that there were no confirmed reports of safety problems until the March 19 incident in Richmond Hills.

The day after that incident, several staff chiefs from fire headquarters in Brooklyn conducted further tests at the Fire Academy on Randall's Island, said Frank Gribbon, deputy commissioner for public information.

Those tests showed there were problems in transmissions when more than one radio was sending, Gribbon said, but he could not explain why the problem was not discovered during testing by the department's Tactical Training Unit.

But the Uniformed Fire Officers Association has compiled reports from its supervisory officers-reports written to their department bosses-that contradict the department's official position.

On March 14, for example, Battalion Chief Mark Ferran sent a written report to Chief of Operations Daniel Nigro reporting problems with the radios.

"This occurred at a Haz-Mat [hazardous materials] incident where there were no critical communications like those that occur at serious fires," wrote Ferran, whose command is based in Long Island City.

That memo was dated one day after the new radios went into service. Two days later, Nigro's subordinate, Citywide Tour Commander Donald Burns, alerted all chiefs to potential problems with the radios.

The Burns message to field commanders, however, said only that there had been "rumors of problems but there has been no official notification." Gribbon said the only reports of problems were with echoes and a short delay in transmission with new digital technology, which has to encode the human voice before transmitting the message.

One chief said he heard his own voice being transmitted after he had finished speaking.

Gribbon said firefighters and superior officers should have been aware of the issues because the department had sent videos from Motorola to every firehouse in the city to alert them to the echoes and delay.

He said he could not explain why so many senior commanders were surprised by the performance of the radios and wrote memos critical of their capability during the first days of their use.

Also, Gribbon and other top department officials had never publicly disclosed the existence of the video or the earlier concern about feedback and delay in transmission until last week.

The department had to return hundreds of the radios last year after they proved not to be water-resistant, officials confirmed last week.

The Fire Department said at first that it could not have conducted extensive field tests on the new radios because they use a different form of transmission than the radios then in use.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani shot down the department's argument days later, saying it made a mistake in the way it introduced the radios.

"They didn't train people in the Fire Department for enough time to get used to the new technology, and a mistake was made with it. That mistake is not going to happen again," Giuliani said.

In addition to failing a test in which they were submerged in shallow water in May 2000, new radios in a prior shipment also had been returned to Motorola in 1999 because they did not give a feedback signal to indicate they were working, according to documents submitted to the comptroller's office by the Fire Department.

"There is no written documentation; it was all discussion," the department said in response to a request for documents to show how the radios were tested and why they were returned.

Gribbon said last month that the problems with the feedback were discovered in testing with Rescue Co. 2 in Brooklyn but that it was never tested under fire conditions, only by handling the units as a practice.

Yet the department's response to the comptroller's office said specifically that Rescue 2 field-tested the radios "under actual fire conditions." Capt. Peter Gorman, head of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, said the Fire Department has focused more of its attention on the March 19 fire than on the operational problems with the radios.

"They didn't want to hear about any problems," Gorman said. "They just didn't want to hear about it."

4/12/01
CITY MUNICIPAL WORKERS NAIL
‘SUBSTANTIALLY' $WEETER DEAL
By DAVID SEIFMAN - NY Post

April 12, 2001 -- Mayor Giuliani and the city's largest municipal union reached a tentative contract last night that provides wage and benefit increases totaling 9.87 percent over 27 months.

Giuliani described the deal with District Council 37 as a "very substantial raise" for about half the city's 250,000-member work force and said it provides the "basis" for much tougher negotiations remaining with teachers and the uniformed forces.

The contract includes a 4 percent raise retroactive to April 1, 2000, another 4 percent retroactive to last April 1 and an extra 1 percent that the union can use as it sees fit to boost salaries in low-paying job titles.

There is a "job security" clause that protects against layoffs.

For the first time, DC 37 also agreed to allow merit pay under a formula yet to be worked out.

"Based upon the fact that every single member is receiving a fair and equitable wage increase, along with job security and other benefits associated with this package, that was a trade-off we could make," DC 37 administrator Lee Saunders said at a press conference at Gracie Mansion.

The total value of the deal was put at $277 million in city funds.

In December 1999, when transit workers won raises of 5, 3 and 4 percent over three years, the mayor described that pact as "much too high" to duplicate for city workers.

"It would cause significant deficits," he said at the time.

But last night, Giuliani said his deal was "quite a bit different" because it included contributions from the union's own benefits funds "that will allow us to reduce the amount of money we have to put in."

Bob Linn, a former city labor commissioner who now represents the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said the contract "is somewhat larger than clerical settlements around the country" and "clearly recognizes the need to catch up for wage freezes of the '90s."

Linn seized on the 1 percent set aside for low-paying job titles, saying that proves across-the-board hikes aren't sufficient to deal with salaries that are well below market.

"That's exactly the situation the PBA finds itself in," he said.

Norman Seabrook, president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Assn., said he too "is not interested in accepting these terms after we accepted two zeroes under our previous contract."

The latest contract still has to be ratified by DC 37's 125,000 members. The last contract, which included no raises in the first two years, was rigged five years ago by corrupt union officials so it would pass.

Saunders said he'll be using an independent ballot counter - not in-house counters like his predecessor - this time around.

In an apparent effort to help Saunders sell the package, Giuliani at one point put its value at well over 12 percent when all the benefits are calculated.

"What we like to do is to make sure that everybody is fairly compensated," said the mayor.

April 14, 2001
Fire Dept. May Hire Officer in Diallo Case
By KEVIN FLYNN - NY Times

The Fire Department has tentatively decided to hire Police Officer Edward McMellon, one of the four officers involved in the 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo, according to fire officials.

The officials said they expected that Officer McMellon, who had one of the highest scores on the last firefighter test, placing 188 out of 6,000 candidates, would begin training this summer with a new class at the Fire Academy.

Officer McMellon still faces police disciplinary charges in connection with the shooting of Mr. Diallo, a 21- year-old street vendor from West Africa. But Francis X. Gribbon, a Fire Department spokesman, said it did not appear that those charges "would prevent us from hiring him."

Mr. Gribbon said that although the background investigation into Officer McMellon remains technically open, he has already been approved by the department's Personnel Review Board, which is traditionally the final clearance for candidates whose applications have undergone extended scrutiny.

Officer McMellon was acquitted last year of criminal charges in the Bronx shooting of Mr. Diallo. In January, federal prosecutors announced that they would not pursue criminal charges for civil rights violations against the officers. But any personnel decisions by the city regarding officers who were involved in a shooting that caused such bitter divisions are likely to be contentious.

Already, the Vulcan Society, which represents black firefighters, has written Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen to oppose the hiring. Lt. Paul Washington, the group's president, said the letter was sent after a meeting several weeks ago at which Mr. Von Essen told him that the department was inclined to hire Officer McMellon.

"We are 100 percent against it," Mr. Washington said. "It shows the blatant disparities in how they view people trying to get on this job. If you were tried for murder as a black man, there would be no way you would be getting on the New York City Fire Department."

Fire officials said they conducted an extensive review of the Diallo case, Officer McMellon's role in it and his employment history before concluding he was a fit candidate. Officer McMellon has had five civilian complaints lodged against him in his seven years on the police force, although none were found to be substantiated. He has made 86 felony arrests and earned three citations for his work as an officer.

On Feb. 4, 1999, Officer McMellon fired 16 of the 41 shots that were aimed at Mr. Diallo. According to his testimony at trial, he tripped and fell just as the shooting began, an event that the defense contended led his colleagues to believe he had been shot.

"We have had people vouch for his character," Mr. Gribbon said. "We have interviewed him and questioned him and we have found him to be qualified. He is going to be fighting fires. He is not going to be armed or engaged in making arrests or enforcing the criminal law."

Stephen Worth, the lawyer who represented Officer McMellon in his criminal trial, said he was one of those who had written a letter of support to fire officials on the officer's behalf.

"He lives with what happened every day, but he has to get on with his life," Mr. Worth said. "And I know he will be an asset to the Fire Department."

Officer McMellon, who lives in Brooklyn and since the trial has worked in an administrative capacity for the harbor unit, is one of two officers from the Diallo case who have applied to be firefighters, and took the test in the fall of 1999. The second officer, Richard Murphy, placed 2,116 and will not be considered for a firefighting position for several years, officials said.

Under civil service law, Mr. Von Essen has the right to reject one of every three candidate with the same score, an option he has not exercised in this case. But officials said that Mr. Von Essen had Officer McMellon's application processed through the review board, which handles cases in which questions have arisen about a candidate's background. Officer McMellon was approved by the board in December, but he cannot be hired until he is certified in the use of a defibrillator, a device used on cardiac patients, officials said. His certification test is set for May.

Officer McMellon's departure for the Fire Department would eliminate a difficult personnel decision for Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik, who must decide whether the other officers should remain on the police force. But police officials said they had no comment on the Fire Department's statements.

The pending disciplinary charges against Officer McMellon involve the question of whether his conduct in the Diallo incident violated police procedures or showed a lack of judgment befitting an officer. The department's Internal Affairs Bureau is still compiling materials in the case, which will ultimately be turned over to a team that will investigate the shooting and file a report with the police Firearms Review Board, a process likely to take months.

04/17/2001
Is the City Forgetting A Hero?
Dennis Duggan - Newsday

All of the 59 days that Connie Smith spent watching her badly burned husband fighting in vain to stay alive were bad ones, but one of the worst was the day doctors amputated Captain Wayne Smith's left hand.

Smith had been an outstanding left-handed pitcher at St. John's University and dreamed of a major league baseball career. It wasn't meant to be and so he became a firefighter. The amputation was an ominous sign to Connie Smith that her husband might never return home to her and their two children, Ashley and Dylan.

I often visited her at the famed New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center's burn unit. Doctors tried to prepare her for the worst, telling her that her husband's condition was "incompatible with existence." A vivid reminder of those pain-filled days will surface in a Queens courthouse today when Smith files a motion to counter the city's rejection of her lawsuit seeking compensation for her husband's death.

On one of my visits to the hospital she told me that "I can't even talk to him and he can't talk to me. I think he is screaming but no one can hear him." It was a chilling description of the pain Connie Smith felt day after long day in the summer and fall of 1994. No one, of course, knew how much pain her husband felt but descriptions from other firefighters who had been burned were frightening.

"I am numb," she once said. "Some days I can barely make it into his room." She often wore a floral print dress Smith had bought for her when she was pregnant with their second child Dylan, who was three months old when his father was hospitalized.

"When he gave it to me, he said that he hoped I could fit into it after I gave birth. He has never seen me in it and I wear it when I come to the hospital." Smith, 37, had gone into the "kitchen"-the word firefighters use for fire-once too often. He suffered burns over 40 percent of his body trying to combat a fire in a Jackson Heights apartment building in early August 1994.

At his funeral in October, then-Fire Commissioner Howard Safir called Smith a "brave and dedicated hero, who gave his life attempting to save others." Safir piled accolade upon accolade on the "gentle giant," as Smith was called by his fellow firefighters in Ladder Company 136 in Elmhurst, some of whom wore T-shirts lettered "Wayne's World" to show their affection for Smith.

"He was a real leader in the firehouse," Safir told mourners. "No one was surprised that Wayne led his men into this fire and was right in front." But that was then. This "hero" is now just another litigious bum as far as this city and its fire department is concerned, and it wants a suit bought by Smith's widow seeking $30 million thrown out.

Smith's lawyers, led by Peter James Johnson, have filed a cross motion in which they say the "city has acted irrationally once again in deciding to abandon a hero...who was burned over 40 percent of his body by the unconscionable conduct of the City [and other defendants]..." That motion cites a defective fire truck with a leaking water tank and corroded fittings, as well as lack of modern safety gear and a defective fire hydrant. It also notes the city's "failure" to meet state and federal laws relating to rescue teams for firefighters in trouble.

A written decision from Judge Phyliss Flug will be handed down but is not expected for several months.

I talked yesterday afternoon to Connie Smith by phone from her home in Tampa, where she moved to be close to her parents.

"I am living a quiet and uneventful life here with my two children," she said.

Her daughter Ashley is in the sixth grade and often draws pictures of her father. "She misses him," said Smith, whose mother lives with her in Florida.

Her father died four months ago.

"I bring the children to New York several times a year to visit Wayne's parents, who live in College Point," she said.

She said that firefighters kidded her for giving her children "soap opera" names. "Well, with a last name like Smith, what would I call them," she would reply.

She misses the man who dropped into her life one summer day at Jones Beach.

"Mind if I sit on your blanket?" he asked.

"We were joined at the hip after that," she said. "He was my best friend as well as the love of my life." She said his phone calls home to her always began, "This is Wayne, your loving husband." "It will be seven years on Aug. 7," she said, "and this doesn't get any easier for me. I think of him every day. My son Dylan doesn't have a father to play with, and when I see husbands and wives with their children the pain is sometimes unbearable."

March 31, 2001 Unions Say Fire Dept. Ignored Concerns Over New Radios
By KEVIN FLYNN -NY Times

The unions representing New York City firefighters and officers accused the Fire Department yesterday of endangering its workers by putting new hand-held radios into service even though, the unions said, the department knew months ago that some of the radios had not worked properly during tests.

The union officials said that the department had ignored concerns about the radios that were raised by officers who had been involved in trying out the new equipment during training sessions held at the Fire Academy in January and February.

The new digital radios, which replaced older technology, were pulled from service last week after a distress call from a firefighter trapped in a burning house in Queens went unheard by some of his colleagues.

"To knowingly put our members' safety at risk is criminal," said Kevin Gallagher, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, "and whoever is to blame must be held accountable."


Peter Gorman, the president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, who presided with Mr. Gallagher at a news conference, said the situation was so serious that Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen should resign.

"If firefighters attacked the flames as leisurely as the Fire Department addressed this problem, New York City would be a prairie," Mr. Gorman wrote in a letter to Mr. Von Essen that he distributed to reporters.

Fire officials dismissed the criticism as union posturing and said that no one had been aware of any serious problems with the radios before they were distributed earlier this month. A few officers had grumbled during the academy testing that they heard echoes on the new radios or noted a half-second delay in transmission, said Francis X. Gribbon, a department spokesman.

But Mr. Gribbon said those complaints were typical among firefighters who were unfamiliar with digital technology, and did not indicate that the system was malfunctioning. He said the department did become concerned about the radios last week, when it became clear in at least two incidents, including the Queens fire, that transmissions had not been heard. Even in those cases, Mr. Gribbon said, the department believed the radios simply needed to be reprogrammed, not repaired.

"Whatever the problems are, they are solvable," he said.

The city bought the radios under a 1997 contract with Motorola Inc. that is worth about $33 million and is intended to provide the department with a system that would improve the clarity of voice transmission and help firefighters communicate better when working inside buildings. Of the $33 million, about $18 million was allotted for the purchase of 3,818 hand-held radios to be used by firefighters and ambulance crews.

The contract was awarded without bidding, fire officials said, because the department determined that the Motorola radios were the only ones that met their needs. A Motorola spokesman said the furor over the new radios largely stemmed from the fact that the firefighters were not accustomed to the different characteristics of digital technology.

"The radios did not malfunction or fail," said Steve Gorecki, the spokesman. "They worked and are working according to the specifications. That has been acknowledged by the Fire Department."

Union officials, however, have said that dozens of firefighters and officers have complained about the new radios. At least a half-dozen of the complaints surfaced weeks ago, they said, when about 80 fire companies were asked to use the new radios during the training sessions. The complaints extended beyond the echo or delay issues cited by the department, the officials said, and included reports of lost messages.

The city began using the new radios on March 14, and Mr. Gribbon said that there had been only a few reports of lost messages in the period they were in use, during which 81 fires were reported. In the Queens fire, the firefighter who gave the distress call suffered minor smoke inhalation before he escaped.

Mr. Gorman, the president of the officers' union, said that one officer had approached Assistant Fire Commissioner Stephen M. Gregory, who supervises the Bureau of Fire Communications, two months ago to report the problems and ask if he should file a written report. Mr. Gorman reported that Mr. Gregory replied that the problems were "inherent with the technology," and then said, "I don't need a written report."

Mr. Gregory could not be reached for comment. Fire officials said that Mr. Gregory had told them that the only complaints that had reached him concerned the echo and delay issues, which the department had expected. In fact, Mr. Gribbon said, those issues were so anticipated that the department had addressed them in a training video on the new radios that it sent to every fire company in the city.

As it turned out, no written report that evaluated how the radios fared during the training sessions at the Fire Academy appears to have been written, fire officials said.

MCCALL: PENSIONS MAY NEED $150M BOOST
Tuesday, March 27,2001
By KENNETH LOVETT - NY Post

CARL McCALL: Making up for market losses.

ALBANY - The state could be forced to pump $150 million into its pension fund to cover a year's worth of Wall Street losses, state Comptroller Carl McCall warned yesterday.

"Given the fact the stock market has performed way below everybody's expectations and that every sector of our economy has been affected by that, it is quite possible that there could be an increase," McCall said.

McCall said he'll know next month if state and local governments would have to pay between 1 percent to 1.5 percent of their payroll to make up the fund's shortfall - the first time in four years government would have to contribute.

The Post first reported last month that after more than a decade of gains, the state pension fund's value plummeted by $6 billion since last April, and the city's five funds by nearly $7 billion.

The city may also have to contribute significant money - up to $500 million - to make up for the losses in its funds.

Pensioners won't have to worry about losing a dime because their benefits are guaranteed, McCall said.

When McCall first took office in 1993, government paid 6 percent of its payroll costs to the pension fund. But those payments were suspended three years ago as the pension doubled in value on the heels of the robust economy

3/2/01 Peter Gorman response to the Keystone-Retirees

Subj: RE: Keystone-RFDNY-Retirees
Date: 3/2/01 1:31:49 PM
Eastern Standard Time
From: pgorman@ufoa.org (Peter Gorman)

To: Fdnykey@aol.com

Dear John:

Thanks for writing. I never said that I would not talk to firefighters. I don't know where you got that from.

I did say that I would only entertain questions about the Retired Fire Officers Family Protection Plan from my retired members. Firefighters questions should go to the UFA. As you know, both plans are funded seperately and managed seperately.

I want to share some good news with you. All NYC Police and Fire unions met in this office yesterday to discuss our legislative agenda. We will all support a bill that will provide full COLA to service retirees that would not be offset by the VSF. As soon as the bill is introduced I will provide bill numbers to the URFA.

Fraternally,
Pete Gorman

Let our billions go!                          Feed all our elderly retirees, windows and orphans

May 4, 2001
Barriers to Minorities Found in Fire Dept.
By THOMAS J. LUECK - NY Times

City firefighters are overwhelmingly white and male because the Fire Department imposes barriers to recruiting and hiring women, minorities and the poor, according to an audit by the city's Equal Employment Practices Commission.

The panel found that the department scheduled entrance examinations too infrequently, failed to properly verify applicants' claims of city residency and resisted recommendations to assign minority recruiters in each of the five boroughs.

The study comes against a backdrop of sporadic civil rights lawsuits that forced the department to aggressively hire women and minorities in the 1980's. But, the commission concluded, neither court mandates nor more recent attempts by fire officials to recruit minorities had made sufficient headway. Among uniformed firefighters of all ranks, 92 percent are white men.

"Unless people have friends or relatives in the department, they are out of the pipeline for recruitment and hiring," said Abraham May Jr., the executive director of the commission, a five-member panel appointed by the mayor and the City Council.

Mr. May said the commission, which audits employment at all city agencies, had never conducted so sweeping an investigation nor encountered so much resistance to its recommendations.

Fire officials said the findings were based on a historical imbalance and did not adequately reflect the progress the department has made in recent years. Fire officials pointed in particular to their success in attracting minorities and women for the Cadet Program, in which applicants are given a fast track into the Fire Academy if they first become emergency medical workers.

"In some cases, they want us to go much further, much faster," said Lynn Tierney, an aide who advises Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen on the issue.

The historic lack of diversity within the department has resurfaced as an issue in recent days because of the agency's decision to hire Police Officer Edward McMellon, who was involved in the shooting death of Amadou Diallo but cleared of wrongdoing by a criminal jury and departmental investigators. Many black firefighters have complained that the Fire Department never would have accepted a black candidate with a similar background.
Yesterday, Public Advocate Mark Green, a Democratic mayoral candidate, released his own survey that indicated the department had the smallest percentage of black and Hispanic firefighters of any American city with a population of one million or more.

"The firefighter force is the least diverse ethnically, racially and by gender of all the uniformed services in the city," Mr. Green said in a letter to the agency.

The equal employment commission presented its preliminary findings to Commissioner Von Essen last May. That led to an exchange of correspondence and a meeting of the panel and the commissioner in December. The correspondence and minutes of the meeting were made available to The New York Times by the commission.

Most of the findings dealt with the intensely competitive hiring process, and several of the panel's recommendations have already been rejected by fire officials, leaving open the possibility that the commission will ask City Hall to order compliance. In one case, for example, the department rejected the panel's suggestion that it pay for defibrillator training, which currently costs applicants more than $400. The fee is believed to be an obstacle for many.

The most recent class from the Fire Academy graduated in November and was its most diverse. The class was dominated by white men; some were from the fast-track Cadet Program and were the relatives of high-ranking fire officials. But nearly 11 percent of the graduates were black, just over 14 percent were Hispanic and 1.4 percent were female.

Francis X. Gribbon, a department spokesman, said there were 6,372 applicants who passed the last set of exams, in 1999, and were waiting to be hired. Of that number, just over 17 percent were minorities, and under 1 percent were women, he said.

Although the department has agreed to give minority fraternal groups greater input into senior management decisions, its negotiations on the extent of their influence have been intricate. The commission has insisted that Mr. Von Essen reinstate a policy of his predecessor, Howard Safir, of holding regular meetings with an advisory committee of the heads of the Vulcan Society, a group of black firefighters, and other groups representing Hispanics and women in the department.

Mr. Von Essen changed the process by opening membership on the advisory committee to all the department's more than 20 fraternal groups, provoking complaints from minority officers that he had undermined their influence. Ms. Tierney said in an interview that Mr. Von Essen would now meet regularly with a committee composed mainly of minorities and women, but also with the larger committee representing all fraternal groups.

Fire officials also rejected the commission's recommendation that fire marshals be assigned to investigate cases in which applicants had falsely claimed city residency.

City residency is not required of firefighters, but preference, in the form of extra credit on the civil service exam, is given to applicants who live in the city.

April 21, 2001
4 Diallo Cops Grilled Under Oath
Sean Gardiner and Rocco Parascandola
Staff Writers - Newsday

The four officers who fatally shot unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo were questioned under oath Friday by Internal Affairs investigators, the final step before the cops find out if they will be slapped with departmental charges in the sensational case.

A high-ranking police official described the daylong questioning as "pretty emotional," with one cop, Sean Carroll, being grilled for four hours. The other officers, Kenneth Boss, Edward McMellon and Richard Murphy, were questioned for a total of about three hours. Each cop was questioned separately by four investigators.

None of the officers would comment.

The four officers were represented Friday by Stephen Worth, a Patrolmen's Benevolent Association lawyer.

"The officers are relieved to finally have their chance to give their stories to the department," Worth said. "They're hopeful the department will make a decision in short order." Steven Brounstein, Boss' lawyer, described the day as a "positive step." "Hopefully it will bring some closure regarding the Police Department's investigation," Brounstein said.

A police source familiar with how Internal Affairs conducts its probes said investigators will compare closely what the cops said Friday with transcripts from their criminal trial, looking for inconsistencies.

Diallo, a street vendor, was killed Feb. 4, 1999, in a hail of gunfire in the vestibule of his building in Soundview, the Bronx.

The four cops, assigned to the elite Street Crime Unit at the time, fired 41 times, striking Diallo 19 times.

They were acquitted of murder in the shooting, testifying that they mistook Diallo's wallet for a gun.

Next week, the Internal Affairs investigators will finalize its report on Friday's testimony and recommend what discipline, if any, the cops should face.

The four officers have been on desk duty since the shooting.

McMellon recently passed the test to become a city firefighter.

But amid protests from the Vulcan Society, the fraternal order of black firefighters, Fire Commissioner Tom Von Essen said a decision on hiring McMellon will not be made until the NYPD completes its investigation.

April 18, 2001
FDNY PUTS DIALLO COP BID ON HOLD
By CATHY BURKE - NY POST

The Fire Department said last night it's put the brakes on plans to hire Edward McMellon, one of four cops involved in the 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo.

The department now plans to wait for the NYPD to complete an internal investigation of McMellon, a move sparked in part by an emotional plea from Diallo's mother, Kadiatou, as reported in The Post.

"We are going to accommodate that wish, and I think that's the right thing to do," Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen said.

McMellon scored exceptionally high on his FDNY test: 88th among 6,000 candidates, said department spokesman Frank Gribbon.

"We had earlier indicated that he's qualified [and] that we'd be leaning toward accepting him," Gribbon said. But that decision unleashed a torrent of criticism.

"The process of accepting a candidate is a fair and impartial decision, and a part of that should be awaiting outcome of the police internal review. We want to make sure that if he comes over, there's no lingering issue with the police and their review of what happened."

McMellon's lawyer, Stephen Worth, had no comment.

The NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau is compiling material on the shooting and will turn it over to a team that will file a report with the police Firearms Review Board. The board then will decide if the cops acted within department guidelines when they fired 41 shots at an unarmed Diallo.

The four were acquitted in a criminal trial. McMellon is currently on modified duty with the Harbor Unit.


A source said the Fire Department had been led to believe the internal review would not involve firing the officers, and that its decision to put the hiring on hold may spark a speedup in the NYPD probe.

April 13, 2001
News Analysis:
Deal Spells Worry for Other Unions
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE - NY Times

The tentative labor settlement announced Wednesday for New York City's biggest municipal union gives the two parties at the table — Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and District Council 37 — plenty to feel good about.

At the same time, the settlement gives important parties that were not at the bargaining table — the other municipal unions — a lot to worry about.

The 27-month agreement offers District Council 37's 125,000 members a no-layoff clause and annual raises of 4 percent. The deal gives the mayor contract provisions that affirm his merit-pay goals, although there is considerable debate about whether those provisions add anything beyond a bonus plan that already exists.

But the agreement — the first one negotiated in the current round of bargaining — poses a major challenge to other municipal unions.

The United Federation of Teachers and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association are seeking raises of more than 20 percent, and they fear that the new contract will give Mr. Giuliani ammunition to pressure them to accept something like the 4- percent-a-year wage increase accepted by District Council 37, which is an umbrella group of 56 union locals.

"Now the mayor has gotten a standard that is way below what the teachers and police want," said Ester Fuchs, director of the Center for Urban Research and Policy at Columbia University. "He can use that to bludgeon them a little bit."

The police and teacher unions are hoping that an arbitration panel will declare that their members deserve annual raises of 10 percent or more to catch up with salaries in the suburbs. But with District Council 37's new contract, any arbitration panel must be mindful of the accord's 4 percent a year when it recommends a settlement.

Negotiators for those two unions argue that the city is having such difficulties attracting and keeping teachers and police officers that City Hall should discard its longstanding practice of giving each union the same raises in a lock-step pattern.

"This contract shouldn't set a pattern for the police," said Robert Linn, chief negotiator for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which represents 26,500 police officers.

"For the civilian employees at D.C. 37, this was a reasonable settlement that provides job security," Mr. Linn said. "For the police, where you cannot recruit and retain an adequate force at the current salary levels, there must be market adjustments to provide for competitive wage rates."

The merit-pay language contained in the district council's contract could provide Mr. Giuliani with a powerful wedge to pressure other unions to accept merit pay.

District council officials have allowed the city to give merit bonuses to high-performing union members in the past, but the police and teachers' unions have essentially barred the city from giving star performers individual bonuses. Many union officials oppose merit pay because it often creates tensions among workers.

A senior official at City Hall said the new contract gave the mayor the right to create or expand merit-pay programs at District Council 37 without first negotiating with the union about details. In the past, the city had to bargain with the union about any merit plan it set up.

At a news briefing yesterday, Mr. Giuliani indicated that he would seek such merit-pay flexibility with other unions. "It's very, very important that the city have the flexibility that any manager has to give more pay to the people who are doing an exceptional job," the mayor said. "It's the only way in which you can change performance."

Mr. Giuliani would not give specifics about his merit-pay plans. But one aide said the city might, for example, give bonuses to the 20 transportation workers who fill the most potholes or the 50 social workers who place the most welfare recipients into jobs.

Lee Saunders, the administrator of District Council 37, said the new merit-pay language merely reaffirmed the city's ability to do what it is already doing. Not a fan of merit pay, Mr. Saunders said he agreed to the provision as the price for obtaining everything else in the contract.

For his part, Mr. Giuliani acknowledged that he had agreed to a larger raise than he wanted, but said he achieved in exchange "a major, historic breakthrough" on merit pay.

One prominent fiscal monitor said the contract was not a good deal for taxpayers. Diana Fortuna, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a business-backed watchdog group, called the contract plenty generous, estimating that it increases overall compensation by more than 10 percent over 27 months.

"The contract's pretty disappointing," Ms. Fortuna said. "It looks like the city got little or nothing in return on anything. The city got a few sentences on merit pay, but it's not clear whether that breaks any new ground."

Ms. Fortuna added that the contract was so generous that "there may not be much money left over to pay out in merit pay" to advance Mr. Giuliani's goal of increasing productivity.

Others said the contract provided political as well as financial benefits.

"I think it's a win-win situation," Professor Fuchs said. "The mayor has resolved a contract with an important municipal union without much acrimony. The public will view it as fair, and the mayor gets to talk about merit-pay increases."

The question now is whether Mr. Giuliani will be able to persuade other unions to accept a similar contract.

"This contract might have served D.C. 37 well and served Mayor Giuliani well, but that's doesn't mean he's going to be able to wrap up all the other contracts quickly," said Josh Freeman, a labor expert at Queens College.