Youngstown firefighters reject contract proposal over health care

YOUNGSTOWN

The city’s firefighters union overwhelmingly rejected a three-year contract even though it included salary increases for its members for the first time in five years.

The main reason union membership voted down the contract 91-6 is health-care expenses, said David Cook, president of the 138-member International Association of Firefighters Local 312.

The contract kept workers’ contributions to their health-care premiums at 10 percent, but would remove caps on the maximum amount an employee could contribute to premiums by September 2015.

For firefighters, those caps are $100 a month for single coverage and $200 for family coverage.

It was incorrectly reported Thursday that the firefighters had caps on their monthly premium lifted.

“The city is overpaying for health care,” Cook said. “The city needs to control health-care costs. We feel it’s the city’s obligation to get health care under control.”

Read more about the pact's status in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.