11-20-2007, 05:14 PM
North Port firefighters and city near impasse in contract talks
By JOHN DAVIS
john.davis@heraldtribune.com
NORTH PORT -- City firefighters have been working without a contract since September, and with negotiations approaching the one-year mark, North Port and the union are headed toward mediation.
Pay and the number of days in a work cycle are among the issues to be mediated between the city and the International Association of Fire Fighters' local chapter beginning Dec. 3.
"The firefighters just think that the upper management ... doesn't want to go to bat for us," said Tom Truesdale, the union's lead negotiator.
Fire Chief Bill Taaffe is one of the city's negotiators, and Truesdale pointed to large pay increases Taaffe and others in the city's top management received last year as a sore point for the firefighters.
"His pay doubled," Truesdale said of Taaffe, whose pay went up 57 percent last year, to $130,194.
"He's not looking at doubling our pay."
Taaffe's raise was in line with across-the-board pay increases for nonunion city staff and management. And Danny Schult, the lead negotiator for the city, has said that Taaffe's salary is "not a bargaining issue."
The union, meanwhile, has proposed raises of about 10 percent a year for the next three years, plus extra pay for those with paramedic certifications.
The city says the union-proposed raises at the 94-person department would cost millions over the three years of the contract and could lead to increases in the fire assessments on homeowners' tax bills. North Port also contends that its offer, with higher starting pay but lower pay up the scale, is fair and competitive with surrounding areas.
The biggest divide is in what more experienced firefighters and officers should be paid. The two sides are more than $13,000 apart on proposed captains' salaries, and $6,000 apart in annual pay for lieutenants. The city is also pushing for a 14-day pay cycle instead of the current seven-day cycle.
The city and the union plan one more meeting in North Port next week before heading to Tampa to go before a special magistrate, who will compile a report that will go to the City Commission.
The stalled talks mirror troubles the city had settling on a new contract with the police union.
Those negotiations took more than a year but, after city commissioners supported double-digit increases for many police jobs, the two sides reached an agreement without mediation.
The police contract cost North Port $1.4 million to implement last year.
Last modified: November 20. 2007 4:45AM
By JOHN DAVIS
john.davis@heraldtribune.com
NORTH PORT -- City firefighters have been working without a contract since September, and with negotiations approaching the one-year mark, North Port and the union are headed toward mediation.
Pay and the number of days in a work cycle are among the issues to be mediated between the city and the International Association of Fire Fighters' local chapter beginning Dec. 3.
"The firefighters just think that the upper management ... doesn't want to go to bat for us," said Tom Truesdale, the union's lead negotiator.
Fire Chief Bill Taaffe is one of the city's negotiators, and Truesdale pointed to large pay increases Taaffe and others in the city's top management received last year as a sore point for the firefighters.
"His pay doubled," Truesdale said of Taaffe, whose pay went up 57 percent last year, to $130,194.
"He's not looking at doubling our pay."
Taaffe's raise was in line with across-the-board pay increases for nonunion city staff and management. And Danny Schult, the lead negotiator for the city, has said that Taaffe's salary is "not a bargaining issue."
The union, meanwhile, has proposed raises of about 10 percent a year for the next three years, plus extra pay for those with paramedic certifications.
The city says the union-proposed raises at the 94-person department would cost millions over the three years of the contract and could lead to increases in the fire assessments on homeowners' tax bills. North Port also contends that its offer, with higher starting pay but lower pay up the scale, is fair and competitive with surrounding areas.
The biggest divide is in what more experienced firefighters and officers should be paid. The two sides are more than $13,000 apart on proposed captains' salaries, and $6,000 apart in annual pay for lieutenants. The city is also pushing for a 14-day pay cycle instead of the current seven-day cycle.
The city and the union plan one more meeting in North Port next week before heading to Tampa to go before a special magistrate, who will compile a report that will go to the City Commission.
The stalled talks mirror troubles the city had settling on a new contract with the police union.
Those negotiations took more than a year but, after city commissioners supported double-digit increases for many police jobs, the two sides reached an agreement without mediation.
The police contract cost North Port $1.4 million to implement last year.
Last modified: November 20. 2007 4:45AM