SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association said it has filed a motion with the 4th Court of Appeals seeking to dismiss the city's current lawsuit as what it called "frivolous."
The motion is based on the city's recently announced position that evergreen clauses are now constitutional and contractually valid based on the city's recent negotiations with police officers, the association said.
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"While we applaud the city for finally admitting that evergreen clauses are contractually valid and perfectly constitutional, this admission comes with a substantial cost to the citizens of our city," the association said in a statement. "San Antonio taxpayers have unfortunately paid for the city's lawsuit and appeal to the tune of thousands and thousands of dollars for out-of-town attorneys to represent the city's untenable position.
The association said it hopes the city will take the opportunity to voluntarily drop both the fire and police appeals that are currently pending before the 4th Court of Appeals.
"To do otherwise means that the city is arguing out of one side of its mouth that evergreen clauses are void and unconstitutional, and out of the other side that evergreen clauses are constitutional and contractually valid," the association said. "This outrageous conduct should stop now."
The association said it looks forward to the City Council dismissing the appeals, and letting the association negotiate a "fair and reasonable contract" for San Antonio's fire and emergency medical technician personnel.
City Attorney Michael Bernard released the following statement regarding the union's filing of the motion:
"The city stands by the appeal on the fire fighters evergreen case, and fully expect to prevail in the appellate courts," he said.