NATIONAL CITY FIREFIGHTERS GET NEW CONTRACT

3-year pact includes pay hikes for all, more money for educational expenses

National City firefighters will get pay raises of up to 7 percent and more money to pay for their educational training, the City Council decided Tuesday.

The city began negotiations with the National City Firefighters’ Association last fall. The previous agreement expired at the end of December. Council members unanimously approved a new three-year contract, from Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2024.

The contract includes wage increases based on classification.

Firefighters will get a 7 percent increase; engineers, 6 percent; captains, 5 percent; and battalion chiefs, 4 percent.

By January 2023 and through 2024, all classifications will receive a 3 percent wage increase. The agreement will cost the city an estimated $211,900 between January and June. Over the course of three years, the city will have invested about $2 million in salary and benefit increases, according to city staff.

The new contract will help the Fire Department retain its workers, said Capt. James Stiles, who formerly served as the president of the Firefighters’ Association.

“We had lost probably around 10 percent (of employees) every couple of years to higher-paying departments,” he said. “Newly hired firefighters were getting trained and were moving to other departments. This is an effort from the association and commitment from the city to stay competitive and get firefighters paid at the county average to help retain folks.”

The association has more than 30 members and the department is looking to soon start hiring, Stiles added.

The agreement also includes an increase for the department’s Educational Expenses Reimbursement Plan, from $2,000 to $2,500. The plan is available to employees who wish to improve their work performance by furthering their education.

“Being able to send them to paramedic school allows us to have a more diverse pool (of workers),” said Stiles.

The contract also raises the annual uniform allowance from $750 to $850, and adds a one-time contribution of 24 hours to the vacation accrual bank for employees hired after Jan. 1 of this year. The new agreement also adds Juneteenth (June 19) as a floating holiday for employees with a 40-hour work schedule. Juneteenth is a federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.