Cleveland: Mayor & Union want fingerprint time clocks at firehouses

Mayor wants fingerprint time clocks at Cleveland firehouses (Fire Rescue 1)

The move follows an internal city audit, released in mid-November, that found some city firefighters collected pay for hours they didn't work, including one man who collected two years of pay while working a total of 11 days. Auditors also found that some firefighters failed to record sick time and violated the city's bereavement policy.

Officials representing Cleveland Fire Fighters Local 93 said late Friday they support the city's decision to install time clocks that read fingerprints.

"The city is still operating under archaic conditions," said Joseph W. Diemert, a lawyer for the union. "To monitor — clock in and clock out — is something that the guys think is wonderful and a good thing to do.

 Clocking in: A sign of changing times (Fire Rescue 1)

While I think it is uncommon, although certainly not unheard of, for firefighters to formally clock in and clock out of the fire station, I wonder if this story is a sign of changing times (pun intended), or an isolated response to a local situation?

As you can see from the story, and perhaps contrary to what you might think, both labor and management agree on the proposal to install biometric timeclocks in Cleveland firehouses.

And why wouldn't they?