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Margate Firefighters looking for 3% pay increase in years two and three
• Also want cap on overtime lifted and more money for education
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Monday,
June 21, 2010
City negotiations with Margate’s International Association of Firefighters local 3080 at City Hall Monday started similar to talks earlier in the year with the city’s police and general employee unions:
“What you’re making today, you’re making tomorrow,” was the offer put on the table by Margate City Manager, Frank Porcella.
Union officials declined Porcella’s offer and presented the city with a counter offer.
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Local 3080 Division Vice President, Eric Achiron, said fiscal year 2011 will mark the third year Margate firefighters haven’t received a cost of living allowance (cola).
According to Porcella, firefighters were granted a 3% cola for fiscal year 2009 and their paysteps for fiscal year 2010. Now, they face a pay freeze.
Although the union isn’t asking for any money in year one of the three year contract under negotiation, they are asking for a 3% pay increase in years 2012 and 2013.
Porcella reiterated the fact that the city is facing a $4.5 million budget shortfall in the coming fiscal year and that there isn’t any money to go around. He complimented union reps on the performance of Margate’s fire battalion and said he wish he had better news, but to remember that when Margate had the money the city was generous.
Margate firefighters are also asking taxpayers for $20,000 more a year to fund job-related training and professional development. Currently a reimbursement of up to $2,000 per person is in effect across the department with an annual cap of $30,000 for all 106 firefighters.
Overtime, a constant topic for debate, to which union reps want the $250,000 annual overtime cap lifted. Achiron said that with so many firefighters calling out with injuries and taking advantage of the Family Medical Leave Act, it isn’t fair to cap overtime pay for firefighters left picking up the slack.
Achiron told a story of how one firefighter missed Father’s Day this year because another called out sick. The story fell on deaf ears, as Porcella, once a Margate firefighter himself, told of working on Christmas.
“It’s one of those things everybody knows,” Porcella said. “When you call in sick, you burn a brother or a sister,” he said, adding that the $500,000 the city paid in overtime two years ago isn’t going to happen again, but the city would consider raising the overtime cap to $300,000.
Fire Captain, Todd Sherman, said that knee, back and neck injuries have become more commonplace among Margate’s aging fire battalion and are placing a strain on a department he says is understaffed. As a result, overtime has become a necessary evil and hard to predict.
Similar to changes made to Margate police and general employee union contracts this year, longevity pay will no longer be available to Margate fire recruits hired after October 1, 2010.
Salaries for Margate firefighters range from about $56K to $96K with the majority of salaries in the $70Ks and $80Ks.
Margate's roughly $8.7 million in salary and wages for the fire service comprise about 91 percent of the city's total fire budget of $9.5 million.
Porcella said pay and benefits for Margate firefighters aren’t the highest in the county, but aren’t the lowest either.
The only non-union firefighter in Margate is Fire Chief, Garry Westbrook, which soon may change, as union officials have requested to reclassify Division and / or Battalion Chiefs as management, effectively dismissing the ranks from the bargaining unit.
No date has been set for the next negotiation session. If an agreement isn't reached by October 1, 2010, negotiations may impasse, which could lead to arbitration.
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