Roughly a quarter of the firefighters for the New Orleans Fire Department called in sick Saturday morning, a day when several parades rolled in the city.
Union leaders deny they called for any kind of organized work action but they reiterate the issue at hand: The New Orleans Fire Department has been perennially short staffed and something has to be done about it.
Fire Fighters have said they will no longer work voluntary overtime, which has lead to some personnel working 96-hour weeks.
"We make no bones about it, we don't shy way from it: we have had trouble hiring in the department and with retention," said New Orleans Fire Department Superintendent Tim McConnell Saturday afternoon.
McConnel said in spite of the overtime dispute, the New Orleans Firefighters Association told them they weren't planning a job action.
"This morning they went back on their written word and staged a sickout," said McConnell. "Fully one-third of the members who were scheduled to report to work today called in sick: 47 out of 137 individuals who were scheduled to work."
Chief McConnell took issue with the term "sickout" and said it looked more to him like a partial strike.
"This to me is extortion and bullying at its best," said McConnell. "Make no mistake: there are firefighters who want to work and need to work to support their families and are being bullied verbally and through social media. They are, and I don't blame them, afraid to stand up to the union leadership and other bullies to report for their sworn duties."
McConnell said the union has gone from "zero to a hundred miles per hour" without giving the administration time to negotiate the issues, and said it was "like extortion."
McConnell said he's asking firefighter to put the grievance aside and think of what's best for public safety, and pledged to work the matter out.
A union spokesman said members did not organize a sickout and blamed the absences on the flu, acknowledging that the amount of firefighters calling in sick was higher than normal.