Firefighters OK 4-year deal
Hub avoids arbitration pending council’s approval
The Boston Firefighters Union has come to a fouryear contract agreement with the city that would give firefighters a 2 percent raise each year through 2021.
The contract is the second time that the two sides have come to an agreement without going to arbitration under Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s administration. It would be retroactive to July 2017 and needs final approval from the City Council, which has a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
“This is a fair deal,” Boston Firefighters Union President Rich Paris told the Herald. “It’s fair for the department, it’s fair for the city and it’s fair for citizens. It’s good that we can go on with business.”
In 2010, firefighters received an arbitration award that gave them a 19.2 percent pay raise over four years. The council — under pressure from then-Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who didn’t want to accept the award — approved a deal that gave a 21.5 percent pay increase over five years to firefighters, costing the city over $100 million.
“It was a good contract for the city, and a good con- tract for the firefighters,” Walsh said of the newest agreement. “I’m hoping it’s approved by the council. The city in the past has a history of going to arbitration, which was very costly for the city and caused a lot of bad feelings between the firefighters and the city.”
Paris also said he felt a sigh of relief that the two parties didn’t have to go through arbitration, adding that there was some backand-forth in negotiating, but that that’s “a part of negotiating.”
“I’ve been involved a long time,” he said. “We were considered ‘money-grabbers’ in the past. I was involved in arbitration in 2010, so it’s good that we came to an agreement. We’re not out picketing and that’s the way it should be. There’s a hearing in City Council next week and then hopefully we’ll all have a good Christmas.”
Under the contract, the City’s Paid Parental Leave benefit would be extended to employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement and psychiatrists would be added to the list of independent medical examiners for claims for injuries that happen while on duty. The contract, among other things, also stipulates increased pay for night shifts and hazardous duty labor.
Walsh added in a statement to the Herald that the agreement “ensures Boston’s firefighters will continue to be safe and protected as they put their lives on the line every day.”