The local firefighters’ union has announced its endorsements for the 2024 elections. As Margie Menzel reports, the Tallahassee Professional Firefighters dropped a long-standing relationship due to the city’s refusal to give them a raise.
The Tallahassee Professional Firefighters are backing Jack Porter for Tallahassee City Commission Seat 1 and Dot Inman-Johnson for Tallahassee City Commission Seat 2.
Porter, the incumbent, and Inman-Johnson, a former Tallahassee mayor who is challenging incumbent Curtis Richardson, have supported the firefighters in their fight to get a raise from the city commission.
Local union president Joey Davis says the firefighters have gone through two impasse proceedings in the last four years in their contract negotiations with the city. They’re also fighting the city over cancer benefits.
“We’ve had firefighters leaving at a historic rate," Davis said. "And all of these things are public knowledge. We have gone before the commission and told them, over and over again. And while Curtis has been very willing to compliment our people, that doesn’t in the end make a change or make them be able to have a raise.”
The firefighters have previously endorsed Richardson throughout his service on the commission and in the Legislature, going back to 2000.
If Richardson were to lose his seat to Inman-Johnson, the majority on the city commission could swing to favor a raise for the firefighters.
