Firefighters settle with Edgerton department
EDGERTON — After a five-year court battle, three fired Edgerton firefighters and the International Association of Firefighters have settled an unfair labor practice suit against the Edgerton Fire Protection District.
Mark Backes, Ken Crandall and Arnie Lund will receive almost $600,000 in back pay from a 2004 ruling from the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission that ordered the men reinstated.
“We have righted a very serious wrong,” said union representative Patrick Kilbane in a news release Saturday. “This is a significant win for these three firefighters.”
Backes, Crandall and Lund were the only full-time, paid firefighters in the otherwise volunteer fire department when they were fired in June 2003.
The fire district said they were let go for budgetary reasons, but the men said they were fired for joining a union.
The firefighters and their union filed suit with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, which in July 2004 ordered the men reinstated with back pay. The ruling was upheld through several appeals, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear the case in November.
The fire district voted Nov. 14 to reinstate the men and they returned to work Dec. 2.
Kilbane said in the news release that the settlement “demonstrates what an effective union can do to enforce legal protections and secure justice for (its) members.”
Neither Kilbane nor the three firefighters could be reached for comment Saturday.
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Jun 24, 2008 at 8:23 p.m.
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garyprimer should put the blame where it belongs...not on the union.
As long as the same board has the same mentality, history will repeat itself.
Jun 24, 2008 at 3:08 p.m.
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I couldn't agree more with ashlea1099! Let everyone get on with their lives and put this behind!!
Jun 24, 2008 at 2:56 p.m.
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So now can we let this go, seeing as the firepeople got a resolution and the board ok'd the decision? It happened, it was fought about, there is an agreement, now let's move on. I will not pretend that I understand what the firefighters went through, I also will not pretend that I know what the families went through of everyone involved, but I will say that I understand that this is one of the many problems with having a small town trying to keep things going as strong as before without having the funds to back it up. Now I know that I will get grief from this, but hey that is ok with me, I know that I speak for a lot of us, though we get wronged by employers and employees, it is better to settle on friendly ground and with certain understandings, than to let it fester and get worse. I am speaking from professioal experience from being a self employed person.
Congrats to the firefighters and the board for finally coming to an understanding and agreement to rectify a wrong and make it right! Way to go Board memebers and Firefighters of EDGERTON!
Jun 24, 2008 at 2:14 p.m.
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Quit?? I don't think so! The first one resigned not long after they FINALLY got to go back to work because he got a better job! The Fire District Board settled with them all because they did not want the guys there any more. The other two would have rather kept working at the fire dept. but the district chose otherwise! It's too bad that people can't get things right before they shoot their mouths off!!
Jun 24, 2008 at 11:58 a.m.
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And guess what....all three have now quit! So in the end I guess it was all about the money. None of them really cared about being firemen, the community or protecting it's citizens!
Jun 23, 2008 at 10:04 a.m.
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An effective union can be proud of breaking Edgerton's budget and forcing cutbacks on other services needed by the community.
Jun 22, 2008 at 2:46 p.m.
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In Wisconsin a public employers' actions in dealing with union employees must be legal and proper. If not, a reversal by WERC will soon happen. Edgerton should have accepted the WERC ruling back in 2004. To force it all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court has cost Edgerton taxpayers a chunk of money.
Jun 22, 2008 at 1:03 p.m.
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I agree, Fulton. Unfortunately that will probably be yet another lawsuit to recover that. In the end, the sharks walk away with all the money.
Jun 22, 2008 at 10:50 a.m.
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Where does the Fire District Board get these funds from? Taxpayers? The Boards actions have resulted in the taxpayers footing the bill, after the Board alleged that the funding wasn't their to support full-time employees!
The fees paid to the legal firm and the firefighters back pay should come from the legal firms malpractice insurance, not tax payers pockets. The Board screwed up on the advice of paid legal counsel.
Recover the costs and back pay from someone other than the taxpayers.
Then find more qualified persons to administer this public entity on behalf of the taxpayers.
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