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Youngstown council to consider raises, hear firefighters' objections
YOUNGSTOWN
Council is expected to sign a contract today with the city’s wastewater union, consider a series of proposals to raise the salaries of nonunion employees and increase various bonuses, and have members of the firefighters union, concerned with plans to reduce its ranks, attend its meeting.
Members of the International Association of Firefighters Local 312 along with local firefighters and those from the state association will meet at 4:15 p.m. today at Fire Station 1. They then will walk to the council meeting at city hall. It starts at 5:30 p.m. after a 4:45 p.m. finance-committee meeting.
“We are there to express our concerns and dissatisfaction with the administration’s decision ‘to risk the safety of the citizens and firefighters of this community,’” a statement from Local 312 said.
Firefighters have objected before to Mayor John A. McNally’s plan to take a firetruck off the road and eliminate eight positions through retirements by the end of this year. It plays a major role in saving the city about $1 million annually, the mayor said.
“We’ll be out to show our displeasure with the closure of a firetruck,” said Dave Cook, the fire union’s president. “People want fire and police services, and closing a truck is dangerous.”
“This is the best plan with the least amount of impact,” McNally said of the $1 million savings from the fire department. “We’re not hiring, but we’re not firing. We believe this is the best option. If we wait until the end of 2015 to do something, we anticipate having to lay off 20 individuals, close a truck and close at least one station. That’s not what we’re trying to do.”
The firefighters have worked without a contract since Aug. 31.
The 138-member firefighter union rejected a three-year deal in September that included salary increases for its members for the first time in five years. The contract, rejected 91-6, kept workers’ contributions to their health-care premiums at 10 percent, but would have removed caps on the maximum amount an employee could contribute.
The caps are $100 a month for single coverage and $200 for family coverage. The city’s health-insurance plans are $666 for single coverage and $1,678 for family coverage.
Meanwhile, the city’s 74-member wastewater employees union has voted in favor of a three-year contract that is nearly identical to a deal rejected 66-2 by its membership in September. The issue then also was concerned with the removal of health-care-premium caps.
However, the union recently voted in favor of the contract with the elimination of the caps starting Aug. 1, 2016. The rejected contract lifted the caps May 1, 2016.
Members of city council said they plan to vote today in favor of the contract.
The deal includes a 1 percent pay raise Saturday, a 1.5 percent raise July 1, 2015, and another 1 percent raise July 1, 2016. Those are the same pay increases in the rejected contract.
The union’s contract with the city expired Dec. 31, 2013, and its members last received a pay increase four years ago.
Wastewater union President Clifton Hardin declined Tuesday to discuss the reason for the change in the vote, and would confirm only that the union approved the contract. McNally said he was told the approval was by a wide margin.
Meanwhile, council members will consider ordinances for nonunion employees to receive pay raises — the same percentages given to unionized workers — and monetary bonuses for items such as longevity pay, having college degrees and for not using sick time. The city’s 170 nonunion employees haven’t had pay raises since 2008.
Councilwoman Janet Tarpley, D-6th, finance-committee chairwoman and council president pro tem, said she doesn’t know how she will vote, but added that “it doesn’t make sense to not give them a raise.”
Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th, said, “We’ll have more discussion on it [today] and see that it’s fair and equitable. I don’t know how that conversation will go.”