In what is believed to be the first-ever negotiation between the CNMI government and a local union, the NMI Professional Firefighters Union had its first meeting with the Commonwealth Ports Authority to begin ironing out the details of a collective bargaining agreement.

Tony Spitaleri, who is based in California, is a former firefighter and the Field Representative for the International Association of Fire Fighters Assisting Union members in the process.

“It’s a historical setting. it'll be something that all can look at, we plan on presenting a very good outline of the collective bargaining agreement that could be used as a model. Our goal is to have a system that allows professional people to work for these various agencies and have a role model as far as creating new collective bargaining agreements if other organizations decide to become a union,” said Spitaleri.

He is confident in the process that they’ve started.

“I feel very confident with the attitude of the authorities and us and trying to reach a good agreement that we will reach a very good agreement. It may take some time, because it is the first one and usually the first one does take time because we have to look at everything that affects the terms and working conditions, the employment, and the policies and procedures of the agency,” said Spitaleri.

They hope to have similar forward-looking talks with the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services.

“We're hoping to get to a point where we can sit down as we're doing with the airport authority, to put together. It's getting them to recognize the fact that there is an organized group and we should have the right to sit down and, you know, negotiate a contract with them also,” he added.