Douglas County Democratic Party

Below is a press release issued this morning indicating our support of the proposed contract between the City of Omaha and Firefighters Local 385. A public hearing will be held on the contract at 2:00 PM tomorrow, August 9th, in the Legislative Chamber of the Omaha/Douglas Civic Center.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 8, 2011

DOUGLAS COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY URGES ADOPTION OF CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY OF OMAHA AND FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL NO. 385

Omaha, Nebraska.

The Douglas County Democratic Party today urged the Omaha City Council to approve the proposed contract between the City of Omaha and the Firefighters Union.

“The time has come to adopt the contract,” stated Mike Leahy, Chair of the Douglas County Democratic Party. “Last year, the Council approved the new Police contract that already has yielded millions of dollars in savings to the citizens of Omaha,” Leahy continued, “the proposed Firefighters contract will provide savings of $16 million dollars this year alone from the combined savings made as a result of the concessions made by firefighters through this agreement.”

The proposed contract:

• Ends pension “spiking” by retirees
• Raises the department’s retirement age
• Increases contributions made by firefighters into the pension plan and cuts their pension benefits
• Restricts wages
• Reduces overall benefits
• Increases health care premiums

This agreement represents four years of negotiations with firefighters who looked beyond their own interests to do what was best for the City of Omaha.

With recent reports that the City of Omaha’s AAA Bond Rating could be in jeopardy due to political stagnation in Washington, the City Council must immediately take steps to shore up the liabilities in the pension fund.

Leahy continued, “The price of doing nothing is too high. According to Milliman Actuarial Services, Omaha currently spends more than $150,000 dollars per month to do nothing but wait for the courts (CIR) to make decisions that our elected officials should be making. Omaha is not Washington. We don’t gamble our long-term financial security in political games.”

It seems that there are members of the Council who are not interested in any compromise. “The most vocal opponents of the proposed contract seem more interested in ending collective bargaining entirely than in reaching an agreement that is best for the city,” stated Leahy. “Compromise doesn’t mean getting everything you want.”

“This effort at shared responsibility demonstrates that the City and the Firefighters are capable of bringing meaningful and long term solutions to bear on these serious challenges. Any effort to drag this dispute through more expensive litigation is an evasion of responsibility.” Leahy concluded, “The time to act is now.”