The city of Detroit has notified the Detroit Fire Fighters Association that its contract will not be extended past 11:59 p.m. Sunday, but no one has told the union the new terms under which its members will be working.

The terse, one-sentence letter came from Lamont Satchel, the city's director of labor relations. 

"We just received this notice today," DFFA President Dan McNamara said Friday evening. "We haven't received any other communication. We hope someone will call us."

Bill Nowling, spokesman for Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, said he was not aware that city employment terms have been prepared for the fire union.

Nowling cautioned that given the complexity of the city restructuring, which includes everything from overhauling  work rules to reconsidering pensions, the new arrangements might not be ready as soon as collective bargaining agreements expire.

"It's going to take a little bit of time to figure that out," Nowling said.

He emphasized that firefighters will continue to receive their normal pay after midnight Monday.

McNamara said he was checking with the union's lawyers to determine the legal ramifications of working after the agreement expires and before the city imposes its terms.

The union has approximately 900 members, including everyone from the chief of the department to the most recently hired firefighter, plus dispatchers, inspectors and arson investigators.

McNamara said the members were on edge, not knowing what the future holds for them.

The uncertainty among one of Detroit's most vital departments reflects the remarkable instability in city government these days, as the all-powerful Orr attempts to refashion the nation's most financially troubled big city amid such circus-like distractions as the unexplained disappearance this week of Charles Pugh, the president of the city council.

Fire fighters, who by most accounts work in the busiest major department in the country, are bracing for drastic changes in decades-old work rules, including, perhaps, their unique seniority system.

Under seniority, members move up through the ranks only as fast as people above them leave the department. Unlike in virtually every other unionized department in the United States, education, ability and test scores count for nothing in the Detroit Fire Department, and longevity counts for everything.

In Detroit, a firefighter traditionally works about 18 years before advancing to the next rank, sergeant. In most big-city departments, a proficient firefighter could rise much more rapidly.  

The union and many Detroit firefighters have defended the system as one that keep politics out of promotions and insures that only experienced veterans become supervising officers. But city politicians and consultants for years have complained seniority breeds mediocrity and is a stumbling block to a more efficiently run department.

Asked about whether seniority could be modified or replaced, Nowling said he knew only it was one of many issues under study so that Orr and city officials can create "a more robust" department.

Said McNamara: "We'll know more July 1."