Houston Lays Off 220 Firefighters

HOUSTON — The city has followed through on its promise in the wake of Proposition B, and sent layoff notices to 220 Houston firefighters. Their final day on the job will be June 30.

In his letter to those laid off, Houston Fire Chief Sam Pena said the move was made because of a sizable budget shortfall, and not as a result of individual performance issues.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who has been critical of Prop B, made good on the threat of layoffs, sending notices to 27 firefighter cadets and 47 municipal employees on April 4. Their last day on the job is June 7.

READ ALSO: City Laying Off 67 Firefighters, 47 City Employees Over Prop B

The threats have been punctuated by the public back and forth between Turner and Houston Professional Firefighters Association President Marty Lancton in recent months.

On March 27, Turner proposed a five-year plan of implementing Prop B, which would put firefighters and police officers on an rank by rank pay parity scale. If it had been agreed upon, Turner said it would have resulted on no lay offs.

Lancton rejected the proposal and asked for written proof from Turner, which only led to more discord between the city and the union.

Upon hearing about the layoffs, Lancton released the following statement:

“The City of Houston has begun emailing firefighters layoff notices. We are deeply disappointed that Samuel Peña has become the first fire chief in Houston history to willingly execute mass layoffs and demotions of firefighters. From the city’s founding to the Great Depression, to two world wars and deep downturns of the energy industry, no fire chief had taken this course of action until today. Chief Peña now is alone among all Houston fire chiefs in that dubious distinction.
“Chief Peña previously claimed he would meet face-to-face with firefighters affected by the layoffs, but he did not do so today. Instead, he sent a callous email with a link to vague job-search resources. He also did not tell our association of his intentions today when we met with him for more than an hour. At this point, the fire chief is simply enabling the mayor to further punish firefighter families and neglect the city’s fire service. The fire chief is carrying out Sylvester Turner’s slash-and-burn plan for HFD. Our world-class fire department is being destroyed by third-rate politicians with the help of Chief Peña. We also note that the Houston City Council members who knowingly voted for hundreds of firefighter layoffs and demotions – such as Martha Castex-Tatum, Robert Gallegos, David Robinson, and Karla Cisneros – did not have the courage to personally present layoff notices to targeted firefighters in their districts.
“We remind Houstonians that, contrary to what the fire chief claims, reduced fire and EMS coverage will endanger our communities. City-funded analysis confirmed in 2016 that HFD is already under- staffed and under-resourced. The forthcoming HFD personnel and service cuts – which follow a generation of neglect of HFD fleet and facilities – will only intensify risks to us and the citizens we serve.”

In the interim, the city and the fire fighters union have been involved in a court-ordered mediation to fully implement Prop B, which is expected to continue.

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