By Robert Maxwell
KXAN News
The city clerk confirms a federal consent decree proposal aimed at modifying the way Austin’s Fire Department screens and tests future cadet candidates will likely again be removed from the council agenda immediately before this week’s meeting.
This week city staff at a Council work session agreed to request council members postpone a vote on the item as was done at the Jan. 30 meeting. The consent decree item will likely reappear at council’s March 6 meeting.
City, firefighters union headed for mediation in hiring dispute
By: Mike Kanin, republished from Austin Monitor
The Austin Firefighters Association – the union for City of Austin’s firefighters – and city management are headed to federal mediation over lingering accusations of hiring discrimination. Asked how long the mediation process might take AFA head Bob Nicks Tuesday declined to speculate.
Also, at Tuesday’s work session Council Member Mike Martinez, former head of the firefighters union, announced from the dais that city staff had requested a week’s postponement for Council ratification of a settlement with the US Department of Justice.
By Ciara O'Rourke
American-Statesman Staff
With council members poised to vote next week on a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the Austin Fire Department’s hiring practices, the Austin Firefighters Association urged the city Wednesday to wait and work with union leaders to try to reach an agreement.
By Robert Maxwell, KXAN
A six-month hiring freeze at Austin’s Fire Department shows few signs of thawing despite a new federally-motivated cadet hiring proposal headed to full city council for review later this month.
The Austin Firefighters Association is now calling for a ‘time-out’ so its team can verify the claims Justice Department lawyers first made last fall the city’s fire department cadet hiring process discriminates against African-American and Hispanic minority candidates.
By Noelle Newton
FOX 7 News
Council will meet in executive session (Thursday February 27) to approved this (consent) decree. It will then be presented to a federal judge for approval.
The president of the Austin Firefighter Association says he's only begun to look over previously suppressed information involving the discrimination issue.
Bob Nicks says he feels the city is to blame for the 2012 hiring process in which he says the human resource department cut the test short by 30 minutes.
He says, while not perfect, the 2013 test produced the most diverse class AFD has ever had with 13 women, 13 African-Americans and 26 Hispanics in the top 100.
He wants to be involved in the council's decision to make sure the best firefighters are selected.
"If they anchor to a position next Thursday before the deal is actually cut and then we have information that shows there's a better way of doing it, it's difficult to un-anchor themselves form a position they voted on the week before it would be much better to put it off and work together. That's what we're suggesting," Nicks said.
The department is 60 firefighters short, but Nicks says that is not a "crisis" situation. He says many shifts are running with extra people on units. He just wants the city to wait one month. There is a selected class currently ready for hire. As soon as this is settled, they will have jobs.
