Fire union: we are targeted

D.J. Olson, the president of Havre chapter of the local International Association of Fire Fighters, has a target on his back, and the fire department's administration is retaliating against him for filing a complaint against the assistant fire chief, said Cody McLean, the union's grievance committee chair.

McLean was speaking before City Council’s Police and Fire Committee Monday night.

“This is out of hand. It’s complete retaliation, it keeps going around and around. There is no end in sight,” McLean said.

The dispute began when Olson received a written reprimand for insubordination, which Olson and the union said was just a misunderstanding.

McLean said the reprimand was in retaliation for a complaint Olson made to the city about Assistant Fire Chief Mel Paulson losing his temper in a dispute with Olson.

Now Olson has been suspended with pay, which McLean said was in retaliation because he is fighting the reprimand.

McLean said that while every complaint, including an anonymous letter, about Olson’s conduct has been investigated, as far as he knows, there has been no investigation of Olson’s complaint against Paulsen.

Olson’s grievance against his reprimand was rejected by the city, and the union took the case to arbitration. The city then refused to take part in the selection process for the arbitrator, contending the the union contract allowed for arbitration only in cases of suspension or firing.

The union then began the process toward filing a grievance about the city’s handling for the previous grievance.

Committee Chair Terry Lilletvedt said Monday’s meeting was solely about the most recent grievance and not the overall tension in the fire department. McLean said all the factors were related.

But council member Brian Barrows persisted, insisting that the questions of earlier grievances were out of order.

“We might as well be talking about the winter wheat crop,” he said. “Hasn’t the rain helped out?"

Lilletvedt said her committee’s authority in the case was unclear, and she didn’t feel qualified as a council member to make  a personnel decision.

In the end, the committee took no action, and McLean said the union would continue its appeal in behalf of Olson.

The Olson case is only one part of the dispute between the city and the union.

An arbitrator has heard arguments from both sides on a proposed labor contract. The city says the union is demanding far more than the city can afford since the city is up against its tax limit wall.