Fire union aims to put arbitration on ballot
Houston’s firefighter union is collecting signatures for a charter amendment that would make it easier to bring contract talks with the city to binding arbitration.
The city and firefighters negotiate contracts under a collective bargaining system laid out by state law. Under that system, the union and the city each have to agree to go to binding arbitration when they reach an impasse. If they do so, a panel of judges then forms a contract that both sides must accept. The union has requested that process but Mayor Sylvester Turner has rejected it, saying he does not want to cede the city’s budget in the hands of a judge.
In launching the petition drive Wednesday, the union said the arbitration process would be easier and more cost-efficient than the yearslong legal battles that have characterized the current stalemate. They would need 20,000 signatures to get the item on the ballot.
“There’s a better way forward: It’s called arbitration,” said Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.
The announcement came as City Council approved Turner’s $5.1 billion budget, which circumvents the traditional collective bargaining process to give firefighters a 6 percent raise. The mayor has said that will become 18 percent over three years. The union has dismissed that pay as a bonus that does not make up for years of stagnant pay. Firefighters have received 3 percent in raises since 2011.
At the end of Wednesday’s marathon council meeting, Turner dismissed the petition drive, questioning the union’s end goal.
“That is bad for the city,” Turner said. “Even in view of what we did today… that is still not enough. At some point, the union should put the interests of this city ahead of just themselves.”
The union and the Turner administration have been in a long-standing legal and political dispute over pay and other benefits. The most recent contract expired in 2017, and negotiations on a new agreement crumbled. Firefighters have sought raises through the court and a “pay parity” ballot measure to tie their pay to police, both of which Turner’s administration fought. The court cases still are active, and the ballot measure passed but was declared unconstitutional by a district court judge.
An appeals court recently ruled on the firefighters’ side in the first case, rejecting the city’s argument that key parts of the collective bargaining process are unconstitutional.
Firefighter unions in other cities, like San Antonio, have sought similar powers. That union ultimately won a charter amendment and triggered the process when its talks with San Antonio officials stalled. A panel of judges ultimately delivered a contract that ended a sixyear stalemate in a manner that both city officials there and credit rating agencies applauded.
The city and analysts with credit rating agencies remain hesitant about ceding the power to judges, however. One of the three main agencies, Fitch, downgraded San Antonio’s credit rating after the charter amendment passed. (Fitch is owned by the Hearst Corp., the parent company of the Houston Chronicle.) Fitch echoes Turner’s argument that the process places a key budgetary factor outside the city’s control.
Houston firefighters already are involved with another charter campaign that has garnered the requisite signatures. That effort would give three city council members the ability to place an item on the City Council agenda, a power currently reserved for the mayor.
Organizers of that charter amendment say they are eyeing a November election date. The firefighters said Wednesday they are seeking the same date for the second campaign.