YOUNGSTOWN — The State Employment Relations Board ruled that the city violated its firefighter union’s collective bargaining rights when it decided to eliminate three battalion fire chiefs through attrition.

SERB ordered the city to cancel the reduction and promote one of its fire captains, Chad Manchester, to battalion chief with back pay to replace Gary Ditulio, who retired Dec. 3, 2019.

“We’re happy with this decision,” said Charlie Smith, president of the firefighters union and a battalion chief. “The city has done everything they can to drag this out. It’s been appeal after appeal with the same argument, and they keep losing.”

The decision was made by James R. Sprague, a SERB administrative law judge. The city has until May 7 to appeal the ruling to the full SERB board.

Jeffrey Moliterno, the city’s senior assistant law director, said Youngstown plans to do that.

“The order is not final,” he said. “The city is going to file the objection.”

At issue is the union’s contention that the city committed an unfair labor practice. The union contends, and SERB agrees, the city retaliated after agreeing to provide upgrades to the fire department’s radio equipment and then deciding to save the money from that expense by reducing battalion chiefs through attrition from six to three.

Sprague wrote the city “made statements and issued ultimatums which appeared to force (the union) into choosing between either ensuring that its members possessed proper communications equipment on the fire site or ensuring that its members were protected by the presence of a second highly trained battalion chief on the fire site acting as safety officer.”

He added that the “city presented a series of false, coercive and discomforting choices” to union officials.

The decision came after Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge John M. Durkin ruled in January in favor of SERB in its civil suit — with the firefighters union as a party in that case — against the city over this issue. SERB sued the city a month earlier to stop it from cutting three battalion chief positions.

In a case brought by the union, SERB ruled in October 2019 “that probable cause existed to believe that the city had committed or was committing unfair labor practices” over the radio equipment by cutting the positions.

The firefighters union had complained for more than two years about the inadequacies of the radio system and the need to upgrade it. In December, the city settled a grievance over the radio system by agreeing to improve it — at an estimated cost of $285,000 — with the work to be done late this year.

To pay for the upgrades, the city decided to eliminate the three positions. Each battalion chief reduction would save about $130,000 a year, according to the city.

The union and SERB called that retaliation and a safety issue. The second battalion chief responding to fires serves as the safety officer on the scene, coordinating safety efforts. City officials said fire captains and lieutenants would be trained to be safety officers.

“This is a safety issue,” Smith said. “The city tried to make us trade one safety issue for another.”

Ditulio retired in December, but another battalion chief isn’t expected to leave until either late this year or early 2021, with no timeline for a third retirement.

Dominic J. DeLaurentis Jr., Durkin’s magistrate, ruled last month the city was in contempt of court for not promoting a fire captain to battalion chief. He ordered the city to do so on or before April 15, but it never happened.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com