Firefighters had to wait more than six years, plus nine months since the arbitration award was rejected, but they have a new contract approved by the Town Council Tuesday and a healthy raise.
The amount in the contract may seem much larger than the arbitration award – $4.68 million vs. $2 million – but there are some key differences. First of all, the new contract is for seven years, while the arbitration award funding included four years. The additional years accounts for nearly $2.6 million of the $4.6 million difference.
The new contract includes 12.5 percent in wage increases, plus 4.5 percent in EMT/defibrillator training increases. The first two years of the contract (Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011) have no raise, but there is a 2.5 percent raise each of the next five years. These are the same terms agreed to by other town unions for the same years.
Comparing the first four years, the firefighters would have been $360,000 ahead if the arbitration award was approved.
Under the arbitration agreement, there would have been increases in overtime, holiday and EMT/defibrillator training in FY10 and 11, years in which other unions had no increase. This would have cost the town $335,000 over those two years.
Firefighters will get $900 more in longevity pay for each step and educational attainment level. Ultimately, they will get about $50,000 less in longevity in the first six years.
Firefighters will also get $300 in clothing allowance increases for the first four years, then the $1,300 uniform allowance will be rolled into base bay for the last three years of the contract and beyond.
{This story was updated. A previous story compared the new contract with six years for the arbitration award, but it only covered four years.}