Labor History: Portland Firefighters Win Two Platoon System
On January 11, 1943, Portland firefighters received their charter as the International Association of Firefighters Local 740, the first firefighter union in Maine. It had been a very long struggle to win a permanent union ever since their previous union, IAFF Local 133, fizzled out in the early 1920s after Portland voters voted down their proposal to create a two-platoon system.
But they never gave up their struggle for two shifts in the two decades since they lost that referendum. In those days, firefighters pretty much lived in the fire house and seldom saw their families. They desperately wanted a better work-life balance where they could watch their children grow up. Having two platoons would not only allow them to have more time off, they argued, but it would also be more efficient and save money on insurance. But after Portlanders voted to eliminate the ward system and elected mayor position in 1923, the new council-city manager system gave more power to the business elites, who demanded spending cuts and lower taxes. By the 1930s, two major roadblocks stood in the way of the two-platoon system: the Great Depression and Portland City Manager James Barlow.
Maine’s unemployment rate during the Great Depression was about 15 percent, well below the 24 percent national average because so many Mainers relied on subsistence farming. But the Depression hit Portland hard and city employees had to take a pay cut and go years without raises. City Manager James Barlow, who was hired in 1928, was also a hardcore fiscal hawk and laser focused on keeping taxes down. He was adored by Republicans and the business community, but loathed by city employees. Barlow was staunchly opposed to creating a two-platoon system for the fire department because he said it would cost too much money. South Portland ended up becoming the first municipality in Maine to permanently enact a two-platoon system in July, 1942. This effectively cut the number of work hours for South Portland firefighters from 102 to 84 hours a week.
At last, there appeared to be some momentum to win this critical reform in Portland. The firefighters argued that the two-platoon system would help solve critical wartime workforce shortages as members were drafted or took union jobs at the South Portland shipyard for more pay and shorter hours. There was also a strong economic argument for the reform because fewer firefighters on duty meant fire insurance rates would go up if something wasn’t done to address short staffing. By the end of 1944, the department had 48 vacancies which union members attributed to low pay, poor treatment and the lack of a two-platoon system. As a result of staffing shortages, the city’s hospital district was virtually without fire protection.
When the City Council discussed what to do about the staffing shortage in December, 1943, Barlow suggested the city instead utilize the local volunteer Civilian Defense auxiliary firemen who had assembled during the war for emergencies and potential air raids. But Councilors dismissed that idea out of hand because volunteer firemen would never meet the city’s needs. Besides, the Civilian Defense firemen had no interest in being called into regular service for the city. As one of them told a reporter, the city manager was “ducking” the real issue – that the city needed to finally implement a two-platoon system. It would make the job more attractive because men no longer wanted to work 48 hours in a row without a day off.
In the meantime, the urgency for a two platoon grew as conditions continued to deteriorate in the city’s fire houses. At a City Council meeting in Dec. 1943, former Fire Dept. Capt. Dwight Tinkham informed the City Council that at least 20 former firefighters who left the department to work in the shipyards for higher pay. He said that they would return to the fire department if a two-platoon was created and they could receive the same rank and benefits they had when they left. Tinkham argued that Portland was the largest city in the U.S., with one possible exception, that didn’t have a two-platoon system. He pointed out that the Portland Police already had a three-platoon system. Some firefighters also complained of favoritism, overbearing supervisors and generally “rotten” conditions in the department.
Fire Dept. Chief Oliver Sanborn was infuriated at the suggestion that firefighters were being treated poorly and blasted the former firefighters for trying to get their old jobs back now that wartime production at the shipyard was winding down.
“Those former firemen who left us in a lurch to go into bigger paying war jobs now see the hand-writing on the wall and are trying to get under cover,” Sanborn said.
Tinkham accused the City Council of illegally taking away the firefighters’ 14 days of sick leave benefits. City Manager James Barlow defended his decision because he claimed firemen had “abused the privilege” by becoming “ill” at the end of the year to take advantage of any sick leave time they hadn’t used during the year. The city manager countered that his office door was always open to city employees to express their concerns “but not to my recollection has any fireman ever come forward.” Nevertheless, Barlow and City Council Chairman George A. Harrison decided to launch an investigation into Tinkham’s charges of “internal strife” within the department.
“It is highly possible,” Barlow said, “that persons under Sanborn’s command have overstepped their bounds without the chief’s knowledge. That is what I intend to find out.”
After interviewing several firefighters, Barlow concluded that there was some justification for the charges of “internal strife,” but that it appeared to be confined to four fire houses and that only a few officers were responsible.
On January 17, 1944, the Council finally voted to approve a two-platoon system “after the war” and promised to work on establishing a paid sick leave program. Initially councilors were in agreement to establish a two-platoon “as soon as possible,” but Barlow walked it back, arguing that they wouldn’t be able to recruit enough firemen until veterans from the war began returning home. He added that waiting until the troops came home would also be a means for providing servicemen employment. Barlow also insisted that the Council had not committed to granting the firemen permanent pay raises and union recognition, even though the firefighters re-organized their union in 1942.
In late January, 1945, Rep. W. Mayo Payson (R-Portland) submitted a bill to repeal a state law passed in 1921 requiring that voters first approve any ordinance creating a two-platoon system in a referendum. The repeal bill passed, but several months passed and there was no movement to establish the system. In August, Chief Sanborn said the two-platoon system would be created in the “not too distant future” as the slackening of the labor market was making firefighting a more attractive occupation.
At the time, the Portland Fire Department had 90 men, about 30 firefighters short of the 120 necessary to establish two platoons, but Sanborn reported that there had been an uptick in applications. The ultimate goal was to hire enough firefighters to reach 159 men. By February, returning veterans had increased the Fire Department’s workforce to 135 firefighters. However, Barlow argued that more applicants were needed because many of the members were inexperienced temporary firemen. He argued that if he established a two-platoon, he would be forced to close two fire stations that had recently reopened after they had been closed for a period during the war.
Firemen Threaten to Resign in Protest of Delays
By April, 1946, several firemen were so fed up with the delays in implementing the two-platoon system that they threatened to resign in protest. In an attempt to ease frustration in the ranks, Fire Chief Sanborn predicted that the eagerly anticipated two-platoon system would be in operation within a month or six weeks. Days earlier, the City Council had finally voted to provide the necessary funds to create the system for a full-time two-platoon system starting May 1.
“We haven’t been holding it (the two platoon inauguration) up,” Sanborn told the Portland Press Herald on August 5, 1946. “You can’t increase the payroll if you haven’t got money to pay extra men.”
However, Sanborn conceded that he still needed 20 more men to bring the department to full two-platoon strength of 159. According to City Manager Barlow, the large number of “green” men coming into the department needed training before the system could be put into effect. Finally, on May 1, 1946, after fighting for two shifts for over 25 years, the Portland Firefighters gathered at the Central Fire Station for the inauguration of the two-platoon system. At 6 pm, a platoon of firefighters in full uniform finished their first shift and were met by a line of firemen starting the second shift. As the station bells rang the hour, Capt. Harry W. Marr handed over the two platoon order of the day to Capt. Frank J. Mullins and uniformed men snapped to attention in a ceremony captured by the Portland Press Herald.
Under the new system, the work week for firefighters would be reduced from 112 hours to an average of 84 hours. It was still a long week, but at least they would get to see their families more often. It had been two and a half years since the City Council finally relented and agreed to establish a two-platoon after a heated controversy over poor conditions in the fire houses flared up amid the ranks of the firefighters. But the fight had started long ago. The first iteration of the Portland firefighters’ union, IAFF Local 133, was established in 1918 in part to fight for a two platoon system after losing several brothers over the years in numerous fires that swept through the city in those days.
Following the devastating defeat of their referendum to establish a two-platoon system in 1921, Local 133 disbanded. Most of the founding union officers never made it to retirement due to struggles with PTSD and contracting terminal illnesses. But the Portland firefighters never gave up the fight for dignity and finally won day. In the following decades they would win more battles at the bargaining table until they had achieved a 42-hour work week, something their predecessors could have only dreamed of. Stay tuned for more on the history of firefighter unions in Maine.