CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Fire Fighters Union Local 48 members postponed a vote of no confidence in Mayor Aftab Pureval, City Manager Cheryl Long, and top leaders within the fire department after a heated two-hour debate inside a closed-door meeting on Thursday.
Union President Joe Elliott spoke with us after the meeting concluded, saying two main issues led to members of the fire department calling for a no-confidence vote just two months before the November election.
We asked how members were feeling as they filed out of the union hall.
"Mentally, not well," Elliott said. "I will tell you right now the morale within the Cincinnati Fire Department is not good."
The president said several members of the fire department are fighting cancer that they believe developed as a result of their work in the fire department, and the city has been fighting against compensation for things like paid time off for treatment.
WATCH: We talk one-on-one with Cincinnati Fire Union President after heated meeting
Elliott said more firefighters are dying nationally of occupational cancer than line-of-duty deaths, and said city officials have been arguing the cancer may have come from somewhere other than fire service.
"How do we know that you got that cancer from fighting fires here in the city of Cincinnati? But there are state presumptive laws for that. The Palumbo Act is state law," he said.
Elliott said the fights over cancer coverage have led to a drop in morale.
"This isn't something where we forgot to pay them 12 hours of overtime or we accidentally took too many hours out of their vacation bank. These are members who are battling cancer, who are fighting for their lives, who are fighting with the city just to get that stuff covered," Elliott said.
Elliott said the second major battle with city officials has been over so-called "me too" language in the union contract that essentially forces the city to give firefighters a boost in compensation if one is given to Cincinnati Police Officers and vice-versa.
An arbitrator recently sided with the fire department in a "me too" case, awarding millions of dollars in total compensation, but the city filed suit in early August claiming the arbitrator "exceeded the scope of her authority" in awarding the fire department a pay increase.
Elliott called on the city to drop that lawsuit.
We reached out to Mayor Pureval, Manager Long, and Fire Chief Frank McKinley Thursday afternoon ahead of the meeting for comment on a possible no-confidence vote and didn't hear back.
Elliott said good-faith negotiations continue with people inside city administration and city council for solutions to these issues, but a no-confidence vote remained on the table for the union at their meeting in October.
