As dedicated fire fighters, paramedics and citizens of Albuquerque we worked diligently with City Council to find solutions to the economic crisis that both balanced the budget and preserved public safety. The Mayor signed the budget, approved by City Council which included ‘ideal’ solutions to addressing the budget shortfall. However, the Berry Administration chose to violate our existing and valid contract by unilaterally imposing changes and disregarded the Council’s recommendations; which would have saved the city more money than the changes imposed. At no point did we seek appropriation of funds from the Administration. Our actions demonstrated that we actively and in good faith sought to cooperate and collaborate with Administration in an effort to address the projected budget shortfalls. Being a part of the solution remains our primary intent because we care about the people in our community.

The opinion and order issued by Judge Nash raises many issues for us. After discussions with our legal counsel we believe a ‘merits’ hearing should have been scheduled rather than and prior to approving the City’s motion to dismiss. Especially since during the ‘discovery’ phase of the process the City did not provide the critical budget information requested in discovery. Further the City was operating under the Labor Management Relations Ordinance (LMRO), our “grandfathered” policy. Fire Fighters and the City completely agreed that we were operating under the LMRO. Our appropriations obligation and requirement was set forth in the LMRO which we complied with. We submitted the contract with the multi-year appropriations. The Mayor signed the contract and the Council affirmed the contracts with the "out year appropriations." Another issue is our proposal to defer the salary increase from FY11 until FY12. There was no need for an appropriation. We did not ask for one. We actually offered $6 million in voluntary concessions to retain our most experienced fire and rescue personnel. The issue is the unilateral breach of the contract and the destruction of the salary increase without negotiating the removal of the compensation package. FY10 has not been an issue. This order to dismiss made it the issue. We encourage members to attend the General Meeting scheduled for this Thursday, February 10, 2011, 7:00pm. 

 Click PDF link below to read the order: