Firefighters OK new contract

The agreement has a wage reopener in its final year.
WARREN -- City firefighters have ratified a proposed three-year contract containing 2 percent annual pay increases and a new health-care plan.
"It's almost a cost-neutral type thing. With the amount of raises we're getting and the amount of money they're saving, it's almost a break-even type thing for the city," said Fire Lt. Edward Hukari, a member of the negotiating team for the firefighters union, Local 204 of the International Association of Firefighters.
The deal is subject to city council approval.
Under the existing agreement, pay increases were 4.25 percent in 2003, 4 percent in 2004 and 3.5 percent this year.
Also included in the tentative agreement is a provision allowing the city to reopen the wage portion of the contract in the final year if voters decline to renew the city's half-percent police and fire income tax.
Tentative agreement
Under the tentative agreement, which firefighters approved Sunday by a 48-14 vote and which would take effect Jan. 1, the city would pick up 2 percent of a firefighter's pension contributions.
Firefighters now pay 10 percent of their salaries toward their pensions. With the city picking up 2 percent, they would pay 8 percent, Hukari explained.
The annual salary range runs from about $32,000 for a starting firefighter to about $69,500 for an assistant chief. The 75-member union represents assistant chiefs, captains, lieutenants and firefighters.
The new agreement would abolish the traditional first-dollar health-care coverage and give firefighters a choice between a preferred-provider organization and a health-maintenance organization, Hukari said. He said the change would save the city $144,000 a year.
Under the PPO, individuals would have a $200 annual deductible, and families would have a $400 deductible. After the deductible is met, firefighters would pay 10 percent of claims, he said. Hukari said he was not familiar with the details of the HMO.