Monday, February 15, 2021 - 11:13 am
To the Editor:
Ogdensburg Firefighters Local 1799 is happy to welcome back two members who had been unnecessarily laid off by city leaders 1 January 2021. While we are glad to see Firefighters Aaron Charlton and Timothy Stevenson return to duty, we are still disappointed one of our brothers remains unemployed at the hands of city administration, Firefighter Jacob Thornton.
Let’s begin with a history lesson. On 1 November 2019, Local 1799 was comprised of 28 men. After the retirement of Firefighter Thomas Beauchamp, membership was reduced to 27. Less than three weeks later, our union signed a contract that promised not only to never replace FF Beauchamp, but also agreed to sacrifice the next three vacant positions, via attrition. For our Union, the agreement represented a first-of-its-kind, contractually agreed upon concession of over 14% of union workforce. While, some of city leadership has lambasted our union for,