The logjam between the city of Tallahassee and its firefighters may be breaking up. A special magistrate held a mediation on the firefighters’ proposed one-year contract on Wednesday. And on Thursday, a second negotiation took place on a three-year contract that could follow the first.
The one-year contract has been the source of much conflict. It’s a matter of salaries and benefits. The city and the firefighters have held 21 negotiating sessions without a solution for the fiscal year ending September 30th. That’s why the firefighters’ union called an impasse. That’s why the special magistrate was brought in to conduct a hearing on the one-year contract.
Attorneys for both sides say they feel good about how it went. Here’s Michael Mattimore, the labor and employment attorney who has represented the city throughout the negotiation process:
“The city’s position -- we’re confident in it," he said. "We think it’s a good offer. We think for this one-year contract it makes sense.”
But it will be months before the special magistrate announces a decision. Both sides are waiting for the city’s latest annual financial report to be added to the record…because the question of how much the city can afford to pay is key.
For the current fiscal year, the city gave 5 percent across-the-board raises to all its general employees, but is proposing 4 percent for the entry-level firefighter position, 1.5 percent for engineers, and no raises for lieutenants and captains. Rob McGarrah, the city’s interim head of human resources and workforce development, told the special magistrate the city used market rates to calculate its offer to the firefighters.
Meanwhile, negotiations have begun for the three-year contract that would go into effect on October 1st. Here’s James Brantley, the attorney for the firefighters, on Wednesday:
“We provided the city with a settlement proposal yesterday, which Mr. Mattimore informed me today that they’re still considering. So we can mutually agree to settle this any time," Brantley said. "But we are going to proceed forward right now on getting this matter closed up and before the special magistrate so we can get his recommendations.”
The negotiations are taking place at a time of heightened public interest in the firefighters’ discontent. Some have resigned and taken to social media to blame city leaders. Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor has been urging the city to resolve the conflict. Last week he hosted a town hall meeting at which Joey Davis, the firefighters’ local union president, compared the Tallahassee firefighters’ pay and benefits to other cities and counties. For instance, Wakulla, Jefferson and Gadsden counties pay their firefighters more, despite their smaller populations and economies.
No vote has yet been taken by the city commission, but at the town hall meeting, some commissioners were blamed for the impasse. Mayor Pro Tem Curtis Richardson wants his position to be clear. At Wednesday’s commission meeting, he said he’s from a union family and has been honored to have had the firefighters’ support in every campaign he’s run.
“I continue to support the union," Richardson said. "I continue to support our firefighters and what they do to keep this community safe. That’s my position. I’ve had it, I’ve demonstrated it, and I just want to make that abundantly clear to those that are here today and those that might be watching. Anybody that tries to make me the enemy of the union -- it doesn’t work.”
And Davis, the union president, says they had a meeting with City Manager Reese Goad three weeks ago -- the first in a long while.
“I think that we understand at the end of the day that he has a job to do, and hopefully he understands at the end of the day that we have a job to do," said Davis. "And I respect his willingness to do his job, and I think we’re working toward feeling the same way about each other as far as that goes.”
Davis says the union has not yet made public its requests under the three-year contract.
