Saugus jakes ratify pact

SAUGUS – Firefighters brought an end to a four-year stalemate Monday night when they ratified their contract.Union President William Cross said it wasn’t a pretty deal but ultimately the firefighters decided their own fate and he was satisfied with that.”It won’t be a deal that will go down in history as the best ever made by a union president,” he said with a chuckle. “We took control of our own destiny.”Town Manager Andrew Bisignani called the settlement more than fair considering the men worked four years without a contract.Cross declined to go into detail on the contract saying he didn’t want to get people all excited just yet. He did however admit there was no retroactive increase and his crew wouldn’t see any raise until July 2008.When pressed Bisignani said the increase worked out to slightly less than what the teacher’s received, which was 2.5 percent per year but the fact firefighters have been four years without a contract had to be taken into account. The contract is good until 2010 therefore the increase works out to roughly 12-percent over two years beginning in 2008.”It still has to go before Town Meeting for approval,” Bisignani said. “It’s not much considering it will be nearly five years in July they’ve been without a contract.”Bisignani said the firefighters union also withdrew three unfair labor practices it had filed against the town, which means a savings in legal fees and possible payouts from Saugus in the case the union had won.Bisignani and Cross both said they felt taking the issue out of the hands of the arbitrator was to the benefit of both parties.”It’s a crap shoot,” Cross said regarding the arbitrator. “It could go either way.”Arbitration has been fairly generous to Public Safety in the last few years.In December 2006, the Joint Management Labor Council awarded the Superior Officers Union a 9.5 percent retroactive increase that spread over three years would have cost taxpayers $618,000.The officers, however, agreed to take one for the team and reduced the award to $520,000 spread out over three years. Town Meeting approved it in March.In December 2005 the JLMC awarded the Patrolmen’s Union a $768,394 or 9.5 percent raise spread over three years that was later approved by Town Meeting.Cross said he was proud of the firefighters and happy with Bisignani’s efforts to make a deal.”Both sides came together. We made some huge concessions but (Bisignani) met us halfway,” he said. “He turned a corner and mended some fences here.””I give Andy a lot of credit but I give the guys a lot of credit too,” he added. “They looked at the big picture and we were all adult about it.”Bisignani said he is glad for the renewed working relationship between he and the firefighters but said he was simply looking out for the town.”It was a long negotiation. It’s been going on the best part of two years,” he said. “It’s less than what the teacher’s got and considerably less than what other public safety officers got and it takes the issue off the table and helps with the Department of Revenue . . . and everyone walked away satisfied.”