Firefighters union launches lawsuit against twp.
BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer
The Edison Firefighters Association (EFA) has launched a lawsuit against the town for unfair labor practices over a payroll dispute. The case, to be heard before a state Superior Court judge in Middlesex County on a date that is in the process of being scheduled, seeks monetary compensation for what the lawsuit alleges is a deliberate withholding of shift differential pay.

Edison Mayor Jun Choi declined to speak at length about the suit, but he said he felt confident that the complaint brought forth by the EFA did not hold much weight, and that it was a distraction brought on by the back-and-forth of Edison politics.

"We take every complaint and grievance seriously, but let's look at the merits of every case one by one," Choi said during a phone interview.

The township and the union recently completed a new contract through thirdparty arbitration in which the firefighters agreed to increase the amount of money they pay into their health care plans, and raises, which had been up to 8 percent for previous contracts, were set just shy of 4 percent in the current one.Also, new hires would receive an extra $1,500 to encourage new recruitment. Both sides had said they felt the agreement was fair. On average, Edison firefighters make about $80,000 a year.

The 10-page lawsuit document, dated March 6, 2008, was provided to the Sentinel by EFA president Robert Yackel, and alleges that the township's random drugtesting policy unfairly singled out paid firefighters while mostly ignoring volunteers. The suit stated that to date, 75 out of Edison's 118 paid firefighters have been selected for random drug testing while only one out of 90 volunteers had been tested. After acting Chief Norman Jensen was involved in a single-car automobile accident in February of last year, the EFA used the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) to find out whether Jensen had been tested, as is policy after an accident. This request was filed at the beginning of October of last year.

According to the lawsuit, the township responded that Jensen's test results could not be disclosed due to an exclusion based on NJSA47:1A-1, as well as the township employee manual.

The suit then states that on Oct. 10 of last year, the paid firefighters were scheduled to be paid for "shift differential wages," money paid to firefighters working shifts outside normal business hours, but were informed by Jensen that they would not be receiving this payment. According to the lawsuit, when the firemen's union vice president asked why the pay was being withheld, Jensen told him that it was because he was too busy trying to fulfill the OPRA request made by the firefighters about the acting chief 's drug test.

The lawsuit alleges that the withholding of pay is in retaliation for the OPRA request. It is seeking monetary rewards and assurances from the township that they will not be subject to retaliation for the lawsuit.

While the administration and the EFA have had several conflicts since Choi was elected in 2005, the township has issued statements saying that these conflicts are with the EFAand not with the Edison firefighters as a whole, who, according to township Communications Director Jerry Barca during a December interview, do a great job protecting the people of Edison.

Choi, overall, felt that the EFAwas trying push the township around, which he said was aggressively trying to help working families.

"This administration will not be pushed around by any special interest group. We are going to fight for the working families of Edison first," said Choi.