Fire union takes ‘no confidence’ vote

The Kansas City, Kansas, IAFF Local 64 took a “no confidence” vote on Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Chief Michael Callahan last week, according to a statement from the firefighters’ union.

The “no confidence” vote by membership was unanimous, according to a news release from the union.

J.J. Simma, firefighters’ union president, said recently that they have raised a number of ongoing issues, and had not seen attempts to rectify those issues.

He said they felt they were in a worse place now in negotiations than several months ago. The union and the Unified Government have been engaged in negotiations.

The Jan. 25 letter from the IAFF Local 64 stated that the vote of no confidence was in response to policies and actions of the fire chief and reflected growing dissatisfaction and concern among Local 64 members.

Simma said recently that they don’t believe COVID-19 issues have been managed appropriately, and he also mentioned response times and coverage. A Dec. 28 letter from the union said response times have increased throughout the community.

Simma said earlier in January that one of the most egregious issues was that a high-ranking fire official attended work while positive with COVID-19, and met with several people, including a union official and an employee with a grievance.

Dave Reno, a spokesman for the UG, said recently that the UG Health Department has reviewed the incident and found that all the appropriate guidelines were followed, including masking and social distancing.

On Jan. 7, the UG released a reply to an earlier firefighters’ Dec. 28 letter. The reply was posted on the UG Fire Department’s website at http://www.kckfd.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/IAFF-Response-Memorandum-Jan-7-2020.pdf.

The UG response on Jan. 7 stated that the Fire Department is adhering to CDC guidelines for first responders in all of its COVID-19 protocols.

The UG also stated in its news release that it had improved fire safety and performance, and it listed several actions that were taken.

The UG also stated that response times were better for 2020 than 2019.