Arlington Hts. reaches agreement with firefighters

A three-year contract that gives Arlington Heights firefighters no salary increase for the first year and lower than previous raises the following two was approved by the village board Monday night.

As has occurred with several recent contracts, the 99 members of Arlington Heights Firefighters Association, Local 3105 of the I.A.F.F., will each receive a $1,000 signing bonus. This is because the agreement was reached before the April 30 expiration of the old contract. Christmas Eve was also added as a paid holiday.

The firefighters will receive 2 percent raises on May 1 of each of the final two years of the contract, and 1 percent on Nov. 1 of those two years.

The expiring contract called for 3¾ percent increase for each of the three years, but the union agreed to give back half of the raise for the final year due to the village’s financial straits, said Lt. Bill Kidd, president of the local.

The village is still negotiating with the union representing police officers, and if an agreement is not reached before the current three-year contract expires April 30, officers will work under the old contract, said Village Manager Bill Dixon.

Village President Arlene Mulder noted the “major assistance” that the firefighters gave last year in agreeing to cut their raise. That saved the village $160,000 during a year that saw layoffs and program cuts.

Kidd said for this contract the union met with Chief Glenn Erickson and his management team first and worked out rules to a greater extent than had been done previously, then sat down with the village’s negotiating team for five meetings.

He also praised “interest based bargaining,” which he said involved both sides talking and dealing with “needs, not wants.”

He told trustees that firefighters want the village to be healthy and “Let’s just hope things get better.”

The union has been organized for 24 years, and negotiations in the early years were very contentious, but in recent years relations have been good and continue to improve, said Kidd.

When the village budget was passed earlier this month the only salary increases it included were for one-third of village employees who moved a step on the salary schedule.

However, Village Manager Bill Dixon said when the budget was introduced in March that it was not known what police and fire negotiations would bring.