A month after the city started requiring firefighters to work an average of 56 hours each week, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza said Tuesday he’s open to altering the fire department’s work schedule.
In a letter sent to union president Paul Doughty, Elorza said he is willing to “move to a different schedule under the three-platoon system” in order to address concerns that Providence may be the only fire department in the country that requires its firefighters to work two 10-hour days followed by two 14-hour nights followed by two days off.
“The administration remains – as it always has been – open to working with you as we change the a four to a three-platoon structure,” Elorza wrote. “If Local 799 leadership now wishes to explore a 24 or 48- hour schedule, as indicated above, we would welcome the conversation once again.” Elorza said he’d be willing to have a discussion about schedule changes “independent of the current mediation process regarding the effects of the city’s managerial right to move to the three-platoon system.”