Carpentersville, firefighters union reach contract deal

After months of negotiating, the Carpentersville firefighters union and village officials have reached a new collective bargaining agreement extending through 2019.

The village board and the Carpentersville Professional Firefighters Union, IAFF Local 4790, voted this month to ratify the contract, which is retroactive to May 1. Negotiations had been ongoing since February, and the two parties were able to reach an agreement without arbitration, "which is where we thought we were headed," said Jeffrey Monteleone, senior management analyst and lead negotiator for the village.

"Both parties saw it appropriate to get back together, find a way to hash it out, and we managed to come to a compromise," he said.

The deal includes a 1.75 percent wage increase for the first eight months and a 2.25 percent raise in 2017, according to village documents.

Mirroring a recent contract with Carpentersville police officers, firefighters' salaries for 2018 and 2019 have not yet been determined and will be negotiated toward the end of 2017, Monteleone said.

"(This way), we didn't necessarily hamstring the taxpayers to a long, drawn out obligation when we don't really know what our finances will look like after 2017," he said.

The union also agreed to a reduced pay rate for off-duty firefighters performing certain activities that fall outside the scope of fighting fires and responding to calls, union President Rick Nieves said. Examples include off-duty meetings, CPR instructional courses, maintenance work and public education - activities that make up about 20 percent of the department's overtime, Monteleone said.

"This should allow the village the ability to hire firefighters back at a lower wage than the typical overtime and salary rate while at the same time allowing the fire department to be more productive in those areas," Nieves said.

The change is expected to save the village roughly $11,496 in overtime costs, according to village documents.

The contract also includes an established work schedule of 24 hours on-duty and 48 hours off-duty, Nieves said, and firefighters' spouses are now included in an outcome-based incentive wellness program. The agreement also prohibits firefighters from wearing shorts when they're not on personal time, according to village documents.