The Tallahassee Professional Firefighters are unhappy about a ruling from a magistrate on contract negotiations, but are taking the agreement to a vote with their members. Union leaders say if that vote fails, it will go before the city commission.
They are also asking for a change to the contract to give retroactive pay to fire employees. The contract in question is for fiscal year 2024, but 8 months of the fiscal year have already gone by.
SEE COVERAGE FROM WHEN THE RECOMMENDATION CAME DOWN:
A special magistrate recommended changes to both the city and union's ask. He wrote in his recommendation that firefighters should get a more than $2,000 raise. He also recommended a $1,664 raise for lieutenants. The raise for firefighters recommended by the magistrate is over $400 more than what the city offered the union previously. He did not recommend pay bumps for captains and battalion chiefs. The city was not offering lieutenants a raise in their last proposal.
The union was asking for a $2,683 raise for firefighters, a $1,502 raise for lieutenants and raises for both captains and battalion chiefs.
In a statement, representatives with the union said "In this situation, we ended up with a ruling that leaves many of our employees without a raise, and causes problems for others."
The union also asked for changes to sick leave. They asked the magistrate to consider changing the language in the bargaining agreement to allow fire employees that "resign after vestment" to be paid out their unused sick leave. The magistrate did not recommend that change.
WATCH OUR COVERAGE ON THE NEGOTIATIONS FROM SEPTEMBER:
This follows a year-long back and forth between the City of Tallahassee and the Tallahassee Professional Firefighters over pay and benefits included in a one-year collective bargaining agreement. The union declared impasse after they say months of negotiations went on without any progress.
Union leaders say the next step won't come for another week.
