BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — A year-long negotiation between the City of Bartlesville and the Bartlesville firefighters’ union is over.
During its March 2 meeting, the city council accepted an arbitrator’s ruling, accepting the ‘Last Best Offer’ of the firefighter’s union.
HEARING FROM THE UNION>>> 2 News' Brodie Myers spoke with a union member after the ruling
“[The decision] was also extremely favorable to the city’s position,” city attorney Jess Kane said.
Kane said it is favorable because of the arbitrator’s written report, supporting the city’s ideas that overtime pay, promotions and sick leave should be re-examined.
WATCH: FINALIZED: Bartlesville council OKs arbitrator ruling in firefighter contracts
The arbitrator did not agree with the city’s proposal for remedying its grievances, so it ruled in favor of the firefighters.
Kane and Josiah Rovenstine, the union’s president, have been in the middle of the negotiations all along.
THE MIDDLE OF THE NEGOTIATIONS >>> 2 News has followed this story all the way
“I’ve got a lot of issues with the truthfulness of the union,” Kane said.
Kane, while updating the city council, said the union would go along with contracts in line with all other city employees. Claiming that was the City’s proposal – but that firefighters went back on their promise.
“It was taken out of context,” Rovenstine said, “The context on that is there are several benefits that firefighters aren’t receiving that other employee groups are receiving. And what we wanna do is be treated the same as other employee groups that are in Bartlesville. In terms of benefits, we are the farthest behind.”
Kane said the firefighters in Bartlesville call out sick with much more frequency than peer cities. 2 News asked Rovenstine to respond to the numbers.
“What [Kane] failed to mention, in arbitration, was what we went over, with some of the intricacies of those numbers, the city’s combining two different types of leave. We’re one of the few departments that have family leave. And they’re adding those into our personal sick leave hours as well. So essentially they’re giving us a benefit that's special to Bartlesville firefighters and turning around and weaponizing that benefit,” Rovenstine said.
Negotiations for the next collective bargaining agreement will start immediately.
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