Published news story by Lurene Kathleen Helzer, June 6, 1994, The East Bay Journal, “Berkeley; Firefighters blast chief.” It seems I did several stories of this nature during my time with this paper. Also here, “Fire chief looks back, prepares to step down.” This second story dated November 11, 1990, written for El Cerrito Journal. Photo of Lurene in Los Angeles, Summer of 2007.
Lurene's email in 2014: lurenexyz@gmail.com
As I’ve said before, I think reporters need to be careful doing labor-related stories; labor writing is not work for political activists. This story involved Berkeley’s fire fighters, their relationship with the City of Berkeley, negotiations, touchy feelings of all concerned following the massive October, 1991 fire in the East Bay hills.
The reason I distinguish labor reporting is this: many people in the San Francisco Bay area imagine themselves journalists because they have political opinions about whatever president is in power, whatever U.S. foreign policy is, etc. In fact, one needs to cover city budgets and labor debates to get a genuine feel for news reporting. Reporters end up having to do any number of weather reports, which, unlike this story, can be blindingly dull:
During the October 1991 East Bay fire, firefighters risked their lives together as they tried to control the conflagration which in the end took 25 lives and 3,000 homes. Now, in a painful and bitter split, the Berkeley fire department and its chief can barely share the same negotiating table.
What went wrong, and why?
Berkeley firefighters feel they have been pushed to the edge during negotiations that have dragged on since April 1993. Now, they are complaining about the leadership of Fire Chief Gary Cates.
A 27-year veteran of the Berkeley department, Cates has been in office since 1990. He and Berkeley’s acting city manager Phil Kamlarz, strongly denied union allegations of unjust discipline, of disregard for the concerns of women and African-American firefighters, and they denied responsibility for firefighter resignations from volunteer committees.
Richard Watters, president of the Berkeley Firefighters Association, said firefighters felt they had run out of alternatives when 100 of the department’s 125 voted “no confidence in Cates.
“When you break trust and you break confidence with your fire chief, it’s a major decision,” Watters said, “and I guess we kind of felt like we needed to make the statement that there’s something wrong with this department.”
“Punitive” disciplinary actions
Watters accused Cates of “unjust disciplinary practices.”
“He’s very heavy handed. Anytime there’s an infraction or violation of rules, you’re looking at days off,” said the 42-year-old lieutenant, who has been with the department 15 years. He said forcing firefighters to take time off for minor infractions has steadily weakened department morale.
The chief might have chosen less stringent measures, like written warnings, Watters said. “They don’t use that anymore. It’s more punitive than corrective.”
According to Watters, the fire chief cannot suspend an employee for more than three days without approval from the city manager.
Watters doubted the city manager would have approved all of Chief Cates’ disciplinary actions if he has been informed of them.
“My experiences with Chief Cates are as long as you agree with him, everything is going to be okay,” Watters said. “If you disagree with him, then you get into conflict. I think in a lot of ways he’s arrogant.”
Kamlarz defends Cates
Kamlarz disputes the association’s allegations.
“After reviewing this list of allegedly improper practices, I have concluded that the union appears to request that Chief Cates be criticized for doing his job, especially as the city’s representative at the bargaining table,” wrote Kamlarz in a letter rebutting the union’s allegations.
“The union has responded to the city’s rejections of its demands by urging its members to refuse to do parts of their job and other illegal tactics,” he wrote.
Kamlarz was referring to one of the major complaints of the union, that Cates discouraged firefighters from making contributions to department policies through volunteer programs.
The union alleges firefighters have shown less interest in upper level positions because of Cates’ “autocratic style.” They said only four of 19 lieutenants applied to take the March 1993 captain’s exam, that in March 1992 only five of 10 captains participated in the assistant chief’s exam, and that the lack of volunteers forced Cates to promote a captain into a “high paid staff position.”
The union charged Cates with being insensitive to the needs of female firefighters, with hiring few African Americans and with failing to develop a recruiting program for minorities.
Kamlarz maintains promotional opportunities still generate interest. “In fact, the Personnel Department received 19 applications for the recent examination for lieutenant.”
Regarding female firefighters, both Kamlarz and Cates argue most discrimination toward female firefighters comes from the rank and file.
Kamlarz also dismissed charges of a poorly-run affirmative action program. He said more than 41 percent of Cates’ promotions had gone to minority candidates, and of 13 recruits hired by Cates, three were minorities and three were women.
For Cates, business as usual
Cates, appearing at the May 24 Berkeley City Council meeting showed no signs of the pressure he has been under during the past year to settle contract disputes with firefighters. “I’ve got a job to do. I still look forward to coming to work every day,” Cates said.
Cates characterized the union’s allegations as tactical, and said Watters was trying to “discredit my dedication to the city.”
Watters said, in spite of everything that had been alleged, he could not question Cates’ competence as an experienced firefighter.
Firefighters are going to Berkeley voters for a charter amendment requiring binding arbitration to settle police and fire pay disputes.
If firefighters get 11,036 valid petition signatures by May 27, the issue will be on the November ballot. As of May 30 the City Clerk was still expecting the petitions. Voters must approve of binding arbitration by majority approval.
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FIRE CHIEF LOOKS BACK, PREPARES TO STEP DOWN
NOVEMBER 8, 1990
EL CERRITO JOURNAL
EL CERRITO – Nearing retirement after 26 years with the Fire Department, Chief Pete Barraza’s hair is ashen, like the light grey remains of a smoldering fire. But with his enthusiasm for the job still burning, he has the inertia of an untapped fire hydrant.
“The scariest call you can get is an infant choking. (But) the more you’re in this job, the more you’re impressed by human beings. I have not seen a lot of panic,” Barraza said.
Barraza will retire at the end of the year, along with Battalion Chief Larry Armstrong. Three El Cerrito firefighters have applied for Barraza’s job and are now going through a variety of tests.
When Barraza started in firefighting, it was a less complicated profession.
“The whole idea that hazardous and toxic materials present a hazard to people and the environment is a new concept,” he said.
Barraza said emergency services have been restructured since he started in 1964, and resources to handle the wider scope of responsibilities are scarce.
“If there was a valid need to obtain a resource (then) you could do that. Now, there’s a wider scope of responsibility and a shortage of resources,” he said, adding that the number of calls to the department has increased fivefold since he has started.
Like many starting new careers, Barraza learned some lessons the hard way.
Asked about his most vivid memory, he began talking about a call he was sent to as a rookie firefighter. Arriving at the house late at night with other firefighters, he saw neighbors standing about in front of the…
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