Lodi Council approves firefighter labor contract

The Lodi City Council voted unanimously to approve a new labor contract with the Lodi Professional Firefighters during a council meeting Wednesday night.

The city has been in negotiation over the LPF contracts since October 2019 according to Deputy City Manager Andrew Keys.

The LPF contract was agreed to retroactively began on Jan. 1, 2020 and extend through Dec. 31, 2022. The contract will cost the city $1.99 million over the next three years.

“LPF has been very professional in their negotiations with us and great to work with, and they do a tremendous job for the community and I think this is a contract that reflects that value, ” Keys said.

Annual salary increases over three years totaling 17% are embedded in the contract. For the first full pay period, which began

Jan. 13, 2020, the LPF received a salary increase of 3% and will continue to get 3% increases every six months until July 1, 2022, when it will get a 2% raise.

During the negotiations, the city reinstated longevity pay for firefighters who have been with the city for a substantial amount of time, according to Keys.

The LPF Memorandum of Understanding stipulates, “firefighters completing 10 years of service with the Lodi Fire Department shall receive an annual longevity pay in the amount of $1,500 in November of the year following completion of 10 years of service and each year thereafter until completing 20 years of service with the Lodi Fire Department.”

The MOU also states that firefighters who have completed 20 years of service with the LFD will receive $3,000 the following year of completion in the month of November.

The city will also offer a 3% incentive to firefighters who receive a driver operator certificate, which allows fire personal to operate fire vehicles during emergency calls.

“This was a provision added in the last round of negations because firefighters were having trouble getting lower level firefighters to train to become drivers, which caused us higher level firefighters to take on operating vehicles and cost the city a substantial amount of money,” Keys said.

When offered a pay incentive, more fighters received their certification, according to Keys, which saved the city money because it did not have to dole out overtime pay to higher level firefighters to ensure a vehicle operator would always be present and available for each shift.

“The certification, it takes them (firefighters) a few years to train before being certified,” he said. “It’s not like driving your sedan down the street. it’s a much larger vessel. All eligible firefighters with the department are certified, with the exception to the new firefighters we hired.”

Keys said the cost of the newly negotiated contract for Lodi’s firefighters have already been accounted for in the city’s 2019-20 budget and will not impact the future fiscal footing for the city.