Wilmington suing both its police and firefighter unions
Jeanne KuangThe city of Wilmington has sued both its police and firefighter unions, separately, over labor negotiations related to overtime pay and the city's residency requirement.
Both cases, filed in the past two months, are escalations of disputes the city and the unions were negotiating out of court under independently appointed legal monitors.
Unsatisfied with those proceedings, the city filed lawsuits in Delaware Chancery Court.
Both unions have yet to respond to the claims in court, and neither responded to multiple requests to comment for this story.
The city sued the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1 in June.
It is seeking to throw out an arbitrator's ruling in favor of the union in a case related to the city's residency requirement, a rule that city employees must move to Wilmington within six months of being hired, and remain city residents for at least five years.
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In that case, the FOP had accused the city of changing the language of its residency requirement without first negotiating with the union in violation of its labor contract.
In 2018, the city changed its definition of "residence" to include where the employee's spouse and children live, in addition to being where the employee eats, sleeps, and keeps belongings. The new definition was included on forms employees must file to prove they live in the city.
Under arbitration, the independent legal monitor found in May that the city violated its agreement with the union and ordered it to use the old definition of "residence" until a definition is agreed upon through bargaining with the union.
It is not clear how often the city has enforced its residency requirement. The police department declined to say how many times such an investigation is opened each year, according to a statement passed through John Rago, Mayor Mike Purzycki's deputy chief of staff for policy and communications.
There are hints the residency requirement is a source of concern within the department. Discussing the department's struggles to recruit new officers with city council members in March, Chief Robert Tracy pointed to the rule as a possible factor deterring applicants.
"If you’ve established outside this area with a young family, it's very difficult to uproot and move your family into the city of Wilmington for 5 years," Tracy said then. "If you want to become a Wilmington police officer, I say it's worth it."
The city argues in its lawsuit that the new residency form was created by a city board in compliance with city law, and cannot be negotiated with the union.
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The city's other lawsuit, filed this month against the International Association of Firefighters Local 1590, comes during a three-years-long contract negotiation that has heightened tensions in an already acrimonious relationship.
The association has clashed with Purzycki over his administration's elimination of 16 firefighter positions in 2017, about half a year after the Canby Park fire that killed three firefighters.
The union and Purzycki have also reached an impasse in a disagreement over what to do with an empty, historic fire station in the Forty Acres neighborhood. Purzycki has chosen an apartment developer to purchase the building, while City Council has granted him permission to give the building to the union to convert to a museum.
The latest dispute is over the union's allegation that the city is failing to adequately pay firefighters for overtime work, in violation of their bargaining agreement, which expired in 2016.
The dispute has been brought before both an independent arbitrator and a state board that deals with labor issues for government employees. The board has not yet ruled on the matter.
The city is suing to halt the hearing before the arbitrator, scheduled for late September, arguing there has been no change in how the city pays for overtime, and that the city should not have to negotiate alleged violations of an expired contract.
The city declined to comment on the state of current contract negotiations, citing rules it adopted with the union.
Contact Jeanne Kuang at jkuang@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2476. Follow her on Twitter at @JeanneKuang.
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