St. Charles fire union changes mind about wage freeze

When fire union officials said last month St. Charles firefighters were willing to forgo raises until the city kept asking for more concessions to balance its budget, it was clear negotiations had boiled over.

Tuesday brought news that cooler heads have prevailed. City officials said the fire union has agreed to a pay freeze for the new fiscal year that just began in trade for a promise of no layoffs this year.

That agreement will save the city about $181,000 this fiscal year and ensure all 42 people covered by the fire union stay employed.

Union officials did not respond to a request for an interview about what bridged the impasse, but previous discussions indicated a secondary part of the new agreement played a key role in the change of heart.

It involves a deal to extend the role of paid-on-call firefighters in the city for another year in trade for tacking on an additional year to the contract the city has with the union.

In that new, additional year, the firefighters will receive a 3.75-percent wage increase, the same raise the firefighters are foregoing this year.

Last month, Tim Petersen, president of the firefighters union, said the union backed off the raise freeze when the city sought more concessions in an all-or-none deal.

"The union has always been agreeable to foregoing the 3.75 percent raise," Petersen said. "Unfortunately, like the car dealer who wants to add on stuff after you've picked out your car, the city wanted more. We couldn't just accept part of the deal. It was all or nothing."

But City Administrator Brian Townsend said at the time firefighters were given two options on March 25. One option was a straight, one-year wage freeze in trade for no layoffs, and the second was a one-year wage freeze and no layoffs, and their current contract would be extended for one year with a 3.75 percent raise in that additional year. Also, the phasing-out of paid on-call personnel would be deferred.

"They did have the option for a straight wage freeze," Townsend said. "They did not respond to that offer."

The issue of paid-on-call firefighters is a big deal moving forward. State law prevents the use of them to replace a full-time firefighter unless the union agrees to it.

Currently, the city uses up to three paid-on-call firefighters to fill vacancies created by illness or other absence to avoid paying overtime to a full-time firefighter to fill the slot.

The union wants to eliminate the use of paid-on-call staff in favor of more overtime pay. So the city had agreed to phase out on-call staff by 2011 by slowly cutting the number of on-call firefighters used. The new agreement will allow the city to keep using on-call firefighters until 2012, saving the city about $45,000 this fiscal year alone.

But that agreement stays in place only as long as the city maintains four full fire response units. City Administrator Brian Townsend said the city is considering eliminating one of the units in favor of an additional ambulance because medical calls represent the majority of emergency activity in St. Charles fire houses.

If that happens, the city will go back to eliminating on-call firefighters by 2011.

Union: On-call firefighters a key issue