Sides agree on non-bias clause
Texarkana, Texas, and the city’s firefighters union have less than a month to complete negotiations and agree on a contract.
An agreement must be in place by Aug. 24 so its financial aspects may be included in the city’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget, which the City Council is expected to vote on Sept. 10, Deputy City Manager Kyle Dooley said during a negotiation session Friday morning at City Hall. Two two-day sessions remain before the deadline.
The union’s proposed pay raises are the most difficult
issue in the talks. There was no discussion of the matter Friday, as the union team said it needed more time to consider budget issues raised in the previous day’s meeting. On Thursday, Dooley said a city finance department analysis showed the total cost of implementing the union’s proposal would be more than $3 million a year, increasing the Texarkana, Texas, Fire Department budget by about 50 percent.
On Friday, the sides came to tentative agreement on two matters, a nondiscrimination clause and an extension of new-hire eligibility from 12 to 24 months.
The nondiscrimination clause forbids both city and union discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national origin or disability status. It also prohibits discrimination based on membership or nonmembership in the union or because of carrying out union activities. All firefighters, including those who are not union mem- bers, will be subject to and protected by the contract.
The clause ensures that union membership is strictly voluntary and prohibits any party from pressuring firefighters about joining or leaving the union. It also states that no one may harass non-firefighter city employees as they enter and leave city property. Finally, the clause acknowledges the union’s responsibility to represent firefighters in the negotiation, administration and enforcement of the contract.
Upon passing entrance exams and background checks, aspiring entry-level TTFD firefighters are placed on a hiring eligibility list. Currently, candidates stay on the list for a year, after which they must start the process over. The new agreement doubles that time, which should make hiring easier and less expensive, said Bettye Lynn, a labor-relations attorney representing the city.
The sides also agreed to define “strike” in accordance with Texas law, as “failing to report for duty in concerted action with others, wilfully being absent from one’s position, stopping work, abstaining from the full, faithful, and proper performance of the duties of employment, or interfering with the operation of a municipality in any manner, to induce, influence, or coerce a change in the conditions, compensation, rights, privileges, or obligations of employment.”
More negotiation meetings are scheduled for Aug. 16 at 1:30 p.m., Aug. 17 at 8:30 a.m., Aug. 22 at 1:30 p.m. and Aug. 23 at 8:30 a.m. All are open to the public and will be held in the second-floor conference room of City Hall, 220 Texas Blvd.
Texas-side voters elected in November 2016 to allow TTFD to engage in collective bargaining. Firefighters later chose their union, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 367, as their representative in talks with the city.