Buffalo Grove, firefighters agree to new contract

After months of negotiations, the village of Buffalo Grove has reached agreement on a new three-year contract with its firefighters and paramedics that will give small annual raises in return for concessions on starting pay and insurance contributions.

The contract, approved by the village board Monday night, was a happy compromise, Village President Jeffrey Braiman said.

“This negotiation has taken a long, long time,” Braiman said.

Village Manager Dane Bragg said the agreement covers wages for 2010 and 2011, as well as a formula for the 2012 wages. It also establishes a new starting salary for future hires by the department.

Firefighters have not received a salary increase since 2010, when the previous contract expired and negotiations on the new deal opened.

Under the deal, firefighters will receive a 3 percent increase for 2010 and a 3.5 percent increase for 2011. Lieutenant paramedics will receive 2 percent and 2.5 percent increases for those years, respectively.

The agreement alters the fire department's salary structure, lowering the entry salary from $59,856 to $52,314, but retains the top salary for current employees at $85,290. Under the new contract, however, the time it takes to reach that top salary will increase from five to seven years.

“I think this is a very substantial agreement and I think it will definitely aid  both the union and the village in the next couple of years,” Bragg said.

Employee health insurance contributions will rise, gradually increasing from 10 percent to 15 percent.

“This was a very difficult negotiation, in part because we as a village administration went to the firefighters union a couple of years ago and said that the economic circumstances were such that we needed essentially extraordinary flexibility from (the union) and sought to have them agree to give up things that they had already been granted in the existing contract,” Trustee Jeffrey Berman said.

Berman called the agreement groundbreaking not only for the village but also for surrounding communities.

“I think the citizens won, because I think that the win is the relationship between management and labor,” Fire Chief Terry Vavra added.