SAN ANTONIO – Less than 48 hours after Firefighters Union President Christopher Steele said he wanted to sit down with city negotiators to work out a new collective bargaining agreement, a lawyer for the union said the group was not available.
A letter sent Wednesday to the union's lawyer, Ricky J. Poole, cited the public remarks by Steele Monday. In an interview, Steele said, "We would really like to start sitting down at the table before Oct. 1."
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"Please be advised the city is prepared to meet with the Firefighters' negotiation committee on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014, at 9 a.m.," said Bettye Lynn, an attorney for the city. "The parties must engage in meaningful collective bargaining negotiations, in particular over health care benefits."
In his response, Pool wrote he was not available because he is scheduled to be on trial.
"As far as your request that the Union notify you 'immediately if the Union is available to meet on September 24,' the answer is 'NO," Poole wrote.
He said he will contact the city "once the Union has completed has completed its due diligence (including the receipt of records which the City has failed to timely process and produce pursuant to pending open records requests) and is prepared to commence negotiations."
A city spokeswoman said that open records request includes 92,000 pages of documents.
Contracts for both the fire firefighters and police officers expire at the end of the month. As of Wednesday evening, neither was scheduled for a collective bargaining meeting.