Firefighters OK pay raise, higher premiums
Columbus firefighters would receive pay raises retroactive to Nov. 1, 2017, and pay a larger portion of their health-care premiums, as part of a new contract between their union and the city.
Members of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 67 voted Tuesday and Wednesday to ratify a proposed contract that now must go to the Columbus City Council for final approval.
The contract includes pay raises of 3.25 percent for 2017 and 2018 and 3.5 percent for 2019 for the more than 1,500 firefighters who work in Columbus. Firefighters would receive back pay for the retroactive raises.
Firefighters also would pay higher health-insurance premiums, though. Now, they pay up to 12 percent of those premiums, but that would rise to 14 percent by 2020 for current firefighters. The city would charge 20 percent of the premium to firefighters hired after Jan. 1.
The raises would cost the city about $35.2 million over the life of the contract. Changes to the health-insurance plan and the increased share of premiums for firefighters would save the city about $9.6 million.
If the City Council approves the deal, it would conclude more than a year of bargaining with the city’s second-largest union. The previous contract expired Oct. 31, 2017.
“I believe it’s a fair deal. It was a tough negotiation. It took 15 months. Both sides worked hard to get a deal that was fair,” said Dave Montgomery, president of Local 67. “We’re paying more in health care, and we got some back in wages.”
Under the new contract, the city will hire a “cancer treatment advocate” who will help firefighters diagnosed with cancer get quick treatment and access to doctors, Montgomery said.
Last year, The Dispatch ran an investigative series that detailed the threat of cancer for firefighters and the steps needed to reduce their risk. In a survey of about 1,300 firefighters across Ohio, The Dispatch found that 1 in 6 had been diagnosed with cancer during their careers.
Changes in the contract for firefighters largely mirror changes that the city has been making with other unions. In exchange for pay raises, union employees have agreed to pay higher insurance premiums and to raise premiums even more on new workers.
Of the city’s six union contracts, only the one with the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9 remains unresolved, currently in a fact-finding stage.
The new firefighters’ contract hopes to avoid drawn-out negotiations in the future by giving the city and union 90 days of negotiations before the contract goes into fact-finding.
“We bargained in good faith. The teams for the city and IAFF reached a tentative agreement on what both sides believed to be a good deal,” said Nikki Brandon, the city’s human resources director. “The voting members agreed. We’re fortunate labor and management could work together to deliver the best services for the citizens of this great city.”