Firefighters’ 3-year deal nears final approval
The Common Council appeared poised on Tuesday to adopt a new three-year contract with the city’s firefighters’ union.
The deal would give members of the Kingston Professional Firefighters Association annual pay raises of 2 percent, retroactive to 2017.
During a Common Council caucus meeting Monday, no member raised objections to the proposed three-year deal with the union. Alderwoman Rita Worthington, D-Ward 4, was absent.
The full council was scheduled to vote on the new contract during its regular monthly meeting Tuesday evening. (That meeting ended too late for inclusion in this story.)
Council Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress said he hoped his colleagues would offer some praise for the firefighters during the council meeting.
“It’s just an amazing job that they do,” said Scott-Childress, D-Ward 3.
The new contract, retroactive to the start of 2017, would give firefighters salary increases of 2 percent per year for 2017, 2018 and 2019. The city’s total cost for the raises would be $692,350.
Alderman Douglas Koop said the first two years of raises would be paid for out of the city’s contingency budget, while the 2019 raises would be included in the general fund of
next year’s city budget.
Koop, D-Ward 2, said the firefighters’ union, Mayor Steve Noble, city Comptroller John Tuey and the council’s Finance and Audit Committee, which he chairs, were all pleased with the proposed contract.
The union’s last contract, a five-year deal, expired at the end of 2016.
Alderman Anthony Davis said all but one member of the firefighters’ union voted in favor of the contract.
Davis, D-Ward 6, is a former city firefighter.
The new contract calls for union members to continue contributing 10 percent, up to a maximum of $3,000, toward the cost of their health insurance.
Kingston Professional Firefighters Association Local 461 represents 52 members of the Kingston Fire Department.
The city’s two other public employee unions, the Police Benevolent Association and the Civil Service Employees Association, also have been without contracts since the end of 2016 and are seeking new deals. Negotiations are continuing.