Cape firefighter: High court's ruling won't change union dues at city fire stations

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Wednesday regarding labor-union dues should not affect Cape Girardeau's unionized fire department, firefighter Norman Baker said.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled government workers can't be forced to contribute to labor unions representing them in collective bargaining.

Cape Girardeau firefighters, from the captain level on down, are represented in collective bargaining by the International Association of Fire Fighters. The city's firefighters are members of union Local 1084.

Baker said Wednesday while all eligible Cape Girardeau firefighters pay union dues, they are not required to do so because the local fire department has an "open shop."

Cape Girardeau firefighters individually pay about $35 a month in union dues, Baker said. The money is deducted from their paychecks, he said.

The firefighters are the only employee group in Cape Girardeau city government engaging in collective bargaining, Baker said.

But all public-service employees have the right to collective bargaining in Missouri, he said.

Daniel Mehan, president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, welcomed the ruling.

"We agree with the court that employees should not be forced to subsidize an organization they may not want to support," he said in a news release.

But Baker, who serves as secretary-treasurer of the Missouri State Council of Firefighters, said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling could lead to fewer firefighters and other government workers joining labor unions in Missouri and nationwide.

"Frankly, it is a union-busting tactic," he said of the court's decision. He added the decision amounts to enacting "right to work" for public employees.

It ultimately could lessen the ability of government workers at all levels to bargain collectively, he said.

Cape Girardeau city officials signed the city's first collective-bargaining agreement with the firefighters union in November 2016. The agreement runs through June 30, 2022.

City manager Scott Meyer and fire chief Rick Ennis said at the time the agreement was prompted by a 2007 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that public employees have a constitutional right to bargain collectively with their employers. The ruling overturned a 1947 court decision that applied collective bargaining to private-sector employees only.

The 28-page contract for Cape Girardeau firefighters took nearly four years to iron out, according to local officials. Baker, one of four union leaders who signed the agreement, said in 2016 the pact benefits firefighters because it locks in "working conditions and benefits." It covers everything from benefits to overtime pay, according to Baker.

While Missouri law prohibits public employees from striking, it didn't prevent a bitter labor dispute from erupting between Cape Girardeau firefighters and city officials 39 years ago.

In 2004, on the 25th anniversary of the start of that dispute, firefighters recalled that armed National Guard troops kicked them out of the fire stations on June 27, 1979. W.G. Lawley, who was city manager at the time of the labor dispute, said troops came in after firefighters walked off the job in what he considered an "illegal strike." A circuit judge issued a restraining order the next day to force city employees to return to work.

The following day, June 29, disgruntled employees met at city hall and refused to go back to work. About 120 city employees, including all the firefighters, walked 15 miles to the county courthouse in Jackson with a police escort to protest what union officials said was "bad faith in negotiating" on the part of city officials.

As the workers were marching to Jackson, Lawley agreed to bring in a federal mediator. The employees agreed to go back to work.

After negotiations with a mediator, the two sides reached an agreement in July 1979 that subsequently led to better pay and benefits.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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