Buffalo firefighters vote today on 5-year, 20% pay hike
Most Buffalo firefighters would get pay increases ranging from $11,000 to $13,000 by 2011 under a contract that will be put to a union ratification vote today.
The tentative agreement would raise the pay of the average firefighter by about 20 percent over five years.
The pact would include retroactive raises of 9.4 percent, including a $3,500 lump sum increase that would be added to firefighters’ base salaries dating back to July 2007.
The deal also includes changes that will save tens of millions of dollars, Mayor Byron W. Brown and two of his Cabinet members said Monday. They include projected savings in health care and some changes in work rules.
“This contract is expected to reduce overtime costs and will be affordable to the city, while also responding to concerns that firefighters had when they rejected a previous contract,” Brown said.
The mayor was referring to the fire union’s 2007 rejection of a contract that critics said included givebacks in health insurance and work rules that would have far exceeded the raises they were promised.
First Deputy Mayor Steven M. Casey said one key provision in the proposed pact involves the union’s dropping a lawsuit that could cost the city $14 million. The court battle involves a long-festering pay dispute that began before the control board imposed a wage freeze. The 38- month freeze was lifted last year.
The proposed contract includes the retroactive $3,500 increase in base pay and a 3.4 percent raise retroactive to last July. Firefighters would receive 3.4 percent raises next summer and in 2010, followed by a 2 percent increase in 2010.
When longevity payments are added to raises that average 18.2 percent, the typical firefighter would receive a 20.2 percent increase by 2011, Finance Commissioner Janet Penksa said.
Penksa said the cost of the raises would be offset by reforms that will be detailed once Buffalo’s control board reviews the proposal.
“Firefighters will come out of this with more than they give,” Penksa said. “But in the long term, there is also restructuring that will save the city money.”
Penksa added that the city has put aside funding in its budget to try to negotiate contracts with its unions.
Fire Union President Joseph E. Foley could not be reached to comment on the proposal.
If firefighters approve the pact today, Brown said, he hopes the control board will vote on it at a Wednesday meeting.
“From the beginning, we have been sharing information with the control board so it can move quickly in having a vote,” the mayor said.
The administration sent an e-mail to the control board urging it to take action on the pact Wednesday.
But Paul J. Kolkmeyer, chairman of the control board officially known as the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, described a Wednesday vote on any fire contract as “highly unlikely.” City officials, he said, have provided only “bits and pieces” of information to the panel.
“I have no idea what the total costs [of the contract] are going to be, or what the total savings are going to be,” Kolkmeyer said.
The possibility of postponing Wednesday’s meeting has been discussed to give the control board more time to review the contract, assuming firefighters ratify it.
South Council Member Michael P. Kearns, chairman of the Common Council’s Finance Committee, noted that historically, the control board has considered contracts only after the Council has approved them.
Lawmakers have yet to see the pact, Kearns said. While the Council must approve the contract at some point, Brown said no law prohibits the control board from voting on the pact before lawmakers take action.
