Fall River Firefighter Union in favor of staffing improvements, against decision to utilize Civil Service Local Register for hiring

According to a release from the Firefighter Union, Fall River firefighters object to the City’s decision to utilize a Civil Service Local Register—commonly known as a hybrid list—for firefighter hiring.

The statement is as follows:

“While Civil Service permits the use of a Local Register, the mechanism was originally intended for departments that struggle to attract enough applicants to form a viable candidate list. That is not the case in Fall River.

“Our city has a long history of strong candidate participation. Dozens of highly qualified individuals—many of them Fall River residents and United States military veterans—have already completed the proper Civil Service entry process, including the written exam, scoring procedures, veterans’ preference, and residency preference. These individuals followed the established rules and earned their place on the competitive list.

“Fall River Firefighters are deeply committed to ensuring that our department reflects the community we serve. A workforce drawn from within the city helps maintain representation, strengthens public trust, and aligns the demographics of our firefighters with those of our residents. Stripping away residency preference directly undermines that goal, making it harder for local candidates—who know this city and are invested in it—to enter the profession.

Using a Local Register for firefighter hiring:

• Diminishes veterans’ preference, a foundational principle of the Civil Service system and a
  benefit earned by those who served our nation. Veterans bring skills uniquely suited to the fire
  service: experience working within a paramilitary organization, the discipline to follow orders,
  and the ability to perform under extreme pressure and the gravity of life-altering decisions.
• Bypasses Fall River residents, eroding the statutory preferences intended to help local people
  access local public-safety careers and weakening the department’s ability to reflect its
  community.
• Undermines the 402A Preference, which is established under Chapter 402A of the Acts of 1985
  and incorporated into Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 31, Section 26. This provides special
  hiring preference to the child of a police officer or firefighter who was killed in the performance
  of their duties.
• Weakens the merit-based testing system that places all candidates on equal footing, regardless
  of personal connections.
• Creates a secondary hiring pathway that does not require candidates to complete the same
  standardized, accountable process.
• Opens the door to inconsistent or subjective hiring practices, which Civil Service was designed
  to prevent

“Massachusetts already has a proven, reliable system for firefighter hiring. Each testing cycle yields more than enough qualified applicants to meet the needs of departments across the Commonwealth—including Fall River. The Local Register mechanism is unnecessary for a fire department that already benefits from a strong, committed pool of candidates, especially from our community and our veteran population.

“Our residents and our veterans have always been the backbone of this department,” said Fall River Firefighters President Michael O’Reagan. “They followed the rules, made the investment, and earned their place on the Civil Service list. Any hiring practice that bypasses them undermines fairness, weakens public trust, and moves us further away from a fire department that truly reflects the citizens of the community we serve.”

“Fall River Firefighters fully support efforts to improve staffing, reduce forced overtime, and strengthen day-to-day operations. But these goals must be achieved through a process that is fair, transparent, and consistent—not one that diminishes the rights of veterans and residents or undermines the department’s ability to reflect the community’s demographics.

“We urge the City to rely on the standard Civil Service entry list and to reserve the Local Register only for situations in which no viable Civil Service list exists. Fall River’s residents, its veterans, and its future firefighters deserve a hiring system that upholds integrity, fairness, and the long-standing protections built into Civil Service.”