By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — The firefighters union said Tuesday it had resumed negotiating possible contractual givebacks with Mayor Susan D. Menard in hopes of preventing massive personnel cuts, but the police union does not envision a return to the bargaining table.

“I can tell you they presented us with a proposed package,” said Fire Lt. Steven Reilly, president of Local 732 of the International Association of Fire Fighters. “I can't tell you I consider it progress. We're still negotiating.”
Faced with a possible mid-year cut of $3.2 million in state aid, Menard is threatening to lay off some 30 police officers and 45 firefighters if their unions do not accept a comprehensive package of givebacks in wages and benefits. Those figures represent roughly a third of each department's manpower — cuts union members say could jeopardize worker and public safety.
Detective Lt. John Scully, president of Local 404 of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, said the firefighters  have more flexibility than the police to offer concessions to the administration.
The position of the union, which is already in arbitration over a pending contract, could be adversely affected far into to the future if members accept standards for wages and benefits that are measured against an impermanent financial crisis.
“We're kind of in a tight spot because we don't have a contract,” said Scully. “We're going to be taking the biggest hit.”
Despite the IBPO's stance, Menard said she has asked aides to make one last plea for the police union to return to the bargaining table. Menard said she isn't eager to lay people off; however, in lieu of union givebacks, that's what she'll be forced to do if Gov. Donald Carcieri, as expected, eliminates all of the previously promised $3.2 million in aid due the city in March
The layoff notices were originally set to be issued Monday. But Menard now says the notices won't be mailed out until she knows for sure what the unions are willing to give up in terms of wages and benefits, and exactly how much aid Carcieri will withhold from the city. Menard assumes Carcieri will withhold all of it in a supplemental budget she  estimates the governor will unveil several days after the General Assembly reconvenes on Tuesday.
If, as expected, the aid vaporizes entirely, the city must reduce payroll, says Menard, either by shrinking wages and benefits or laying people off, in order to maintain funding to run the city government through the end of the fiscal year.
The contractual givebacks are the fairest, most equitable way she can think of to spread the pain around. If they don't fly, Menard says, some people will lose their jobs altogether.
“I don't want to lay people off,” she said.  “But there are only so many places you can cut. We've tried to make it fair and equitable to everyone. The reality is if we don't get the aid we were originally promised from the state — and we probably won't — we need to get those concessions or we run out of money.”
Among other things, the mayor has asked police and firefighters to take one unpaid furlough day per month and to begin paying a share of their health insurance premiums for the first time, 1 percent of gross pay for individual coverage, 2 percent for those with family plans.
Also, the mayor proposes the elimination of sick time “buybacks,” a way of reimbursing workers who are no longer able to accumulate sick time because they've maxed out their bankable hours.
Approximately 100 police officers and firefighters descended on City Hall Monday night to express their frustrations over the options they are facing as Menard's aides prepared to brief the City Council on the status of negotiations. The council eventually went behind closed doors for a formal meeting, but many officers voiced their concerns to officials before they went into executive session, according to Scully.
A recurring theme among police officers and firefighters is the concern that cuts of the magnitude under discussion will   expose the general public, property or employees themselves to undue risk in law enforcement or firefighting emergencies. Scully said Finance Director Ted Przybyla told him recently that the target figure for layoffs in the police force had actually risen to 37.
While Scully had said indicated previously that the union would be reluctant to seek court action to block layoffs, he now says such a legal action is likely. While Scully says the union may be on more solid legal ground opposing contractual givebacks imposed outside of collective bargaining, the IBPO could argue that the layoffs are perilously draconian.
“We'll try, but according to our contract the mayor can make layoffs,” said Scully. “Can she lay off a third of the force? I don't know. That's something our lawyer would have to look at.”
Reilly said the 133-member fire department has minimum staffing guarantees in its contract and the union would go to court in attempts to enforce them. He envisions legal action to block any layoffs, let alone 45.
The proposed givebacks, or, alternatively, the layoffs, are just part of Menard's plan for filling the budget chasm she faces in the current fiscal year. The mayor has developed a multi-pronged plan to make up for the shortfall that includes  a four-day work week at City Hall, rollbacks in curbside trash collection, the elimination of additional jobs in municipal government and other measures.
Although few communities are talking about such deep cuts in public safety, many are in similarly dire straits as Woonsocket as Carcieri faces a deficit of some $360 million in state revenues for the current fiscal year. Aid to cities and towns makes up a combined $55 million of the state budget, and eliminating it would go a long way toward erasing the projected deficit.