City of Austin, firefighters at impasse on contract,

Talks dissolve as sides bump heads over hiring criteria.

Efforts by city officials and the Austin Firefighters Association to negotiate a new contract fell apart last week when they could not agree on some details related to hiring new firefighters.

Both the city and the union had been optimistic about hammering out an agreement.

But Austin officials declined to continue bargaining, according to city records.

The impasse does not affect firefighter hiring, which is underway with 40 fire cadets enrolled in the Austin Fire Department’s training academy. A class of 35 cadets starts on Monday.

It does deprive firefighters of a pay raise and leaves them without a contract for almost two years.

Bob Nicks, president of the union, said he wanted to require a minimum of five measures for firefighter candidates to gauge cognitive skills such as verbal comprehension or math.

“The more you have the better,” he said during negotiations Thursday.

But in a memo sent to City Manager Marc Ott on Friday, the city’s lead negotiator, Lowell Denton, suggested that the proposal could lead to legal trouble for the city, which only recently re- solved discrimination allegations made by the U.S. Department of Justice.

City officials also balked at the union’s request for the City Council to sign off on the union’s hiring proposal to the Justice Department.

Hiring practices are now overseen by the Justice Department under an agreement between the federal agency and Austin that settles the allegations.

“The Association’s final proposal would have involved the council in a highly technical and clearly administrative decision concerning approval of the hiring process before its submission to the DO J, which is not part of the council’s policy role,” Ott said in a memo to council members.

Even so, city officials are expected to make a presentation to the council in May on their choice for which company to hire to create a new process for hiring firefighters.

Nicks also said Monday that the union would continue to pursue a contract.

In a letter to union members Sunday, he announced that the association’s leaders are “not ready to throw in the towel yet.”

“Too much excellent work on both sides of the table has been accomplished to give up on this deal now,” he said.