IRVINGTON, NJ — In the midst of an ongoing Public Safety Department Internal Affairs investigation into the work histories and criminal backgrounds of all current Fire Division personnel, Vicki Martignetti sent an email on Thursday, Aug. 10, to the Irvington Herald, complaining about the township’s failure to fulfill its contractual obligation to pay the health care and medical bills of employees and their spouses, including her husband, Firefighter Carmine Martignetti, and herself.
According to firemen who asked to have their names withheld for fear of retaliation, the township recently began reviewing all firefighters’ employment histories, dating back to when they were first hired, to see if any of them had lied about criminal records or convictions on their job applications. Lying on a job application or failing to admit your driving privilege had been revoked at the time you were hired can get you brought up on charges, even fired from the Fire Division, despite being a veteran fireman.
These same firemen say the background checks began after the members of FMBA Local 14 union voted not to go along with the furlough and layoffs plan of Mayor Tony Vauss to fill the $3.25 million gap in the Calendar Year 2015 township budget, the only municipal employee bargaining unit to do so.
They now believe they are being punished by the Vauss administration for exercising their rights and prerogatives as union members. The Fire Division’s Superior Officers Association union, which represents the officers, voted to approve the furlough and layoffs plan, in exchange for a new employment contract, and have received recent promotions within the division.
The SOA got its contract and now FMBA Local 14 members believe they are getting the shaft from the Vauss administration for standing up for their contractually negotiated rights. Since they can’t complain to media about their seeming mistreatment, due to employment rules, they have reached out to their state union and hired lawyers to help them fight back against the administration’s IA probe.
According to FMBA state union officials, the Local 14 union has already spent $15,000 defending its members from the Vauss administration IA probe, all while the township is failing to pay medical and healthcare bills for the firefighters.
“It doesn’t make any sense at all,” said Irvington Joint Block Association Coalition President and Nesbit Terrace Block Association President Elouise McDaniel on Friday, Aug. 11. “Tony Vauss and his friends are paying themselves thousands of dollars in stipends, but they’re not paying the bills that they are supposed to pay. What are they doing with all the money they’re taking from taxpayers, if they’re not using it to pay the bills and do what they are supposed to do?”
Irvington NAACP Vice President Kathleen Witcher also wants to know how tax money is being spent, if it’s not being used to pay firefighters’ and other employees’ medical and healthcare bills the township is contractually obligated to do.
Former police Chief Michael Chase said ongoing IA investigations of Fire Division personnel seem to be in retaliation for the FMBA Local 14 members refusing to approve Vauss’ furlough and layoff plan. He also said he believes the administration’s actions might be illegal.
“It’s against the law to go back and punish a current employee in good standing on the job for the municipality’s failure to do its own due diligence and thoroughly review and check their backgrounds at the time they were first hired,” said Chase on Friday, Aug. 11. “You can’t punish guys now for something that the township should have done years ago. But then again, this current administration retaliated against me for being a whistleblower within the Police Department and legislated me out of a job, then fired me, so who’s to say if what the firefighters are saying about the IA investigation is true or not?”
Irvington Fire department SOA President Kaimu Suggs said he was aware of the Martignettis’ situation, but his union does not represent the rank-and-file members of the division.
“I am aware of this situation,” said Suggs on Saturday, Aug. 12, after he became aware of Vicki Martignetti’s email to the Irvington Herald. “It’s ridiculous! Were you simply informing me or did you want me to do something else?”
“Nobody is retaliating against anybody for anything,” said Municipal Council President David Lyons on Tuesday, Aug. 15, a few days after he became aware of Vicki Martignetti’s email and the FMBA Local 14 members’ feelings of being persecuted by the Vauss administration. “The furloughs and everything should play no part in any investigation.
“The medical stuff should be separate and apart because, when you start talking about it, (it) all comes under the umbrella of the township. We have a third-party insurance carrier and the council has an Insurance commission, but I’ve found that there’s no one on it. We need to be aware of what’s going on with the insurance and the only way we can do that is if we have somebody on that commission. That’s what I’m planning to do.”
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