MUSKEGON, MI — The city of Muskegon and its firefighters union have agreed to a new five-year contract, but not without major concessions from the fire department.
Some of those concessions include scaled back sick and personal leave time allowances and a pension multiplier reduction. However, each firefighter on staff will receive a signing bonus over the next three years, which Muskegon City Manager Frank Peterson said could help offset some of their losses.
Peterson said the new contract will help the city save $23.5 million over the next eight years.
The new contract comes after a year of contentious talks, including city management’s request for a proposal from the city of Muskegon Heights to take over the fire department’s operations.
The contract governing firefighter salary, benefits and hours of employment was approved unanimously by the Muskegon City Commission on Tuesday, Dec. 11. The contract previously was ratified by International Association of Fire Fighters Local 370 union members.
In June 2017, the city commission adopted Peterson’s recommendation to cut the department’s budget by $700,000, citing rising pension costs and excessive sick time and personal leave allowances. Local 370 President Chris Drake said firefighters’ biggest issue involved inadequate staffing, as Peterson initially refused to hire more firefighters.
Discussions to contract fire services from the city of Muskegon Heights made matters worse, as it could have completely dismantled the 100-year-old department.
The new contract will increase staffing from 15 firefighters to 27 although not all new hires will be full time. Peterson said new hires will be a mix of full-time, part-time and paid on-call firefighters that would be obligated to answer all calls even if they’re off duty.
The city manager has also hired a new deputy fire chief, Jay Paulson, to oversee the department, meaning there will be another layer of management between Public Safety Director Jeffrey Lewis and firefighters. Paulson is a former fire marshal with the city of Holland who previously worked for SAFEBuilt, the city’s inspections contractor.
Drake said the influx of new staff will help the fire department be more effective, but the concessions will affect who retires early and who stays on.
“It’s not what we were thinking of when we went to the bargaining table. But at the same time, considering what we were faced with, the fact that we get to keep the department intact was the biggest benefit,” Drake said. “As far as going forward into the next five years, several of us won’t be here because of the retirement window offered by the city.”
Commissioners Ken Johnson and Byron Turnquist thanked Drake, Peterson, Lewis and Mayor Stephen Gawron for striking the deal.
Here’s a breakdown of the new contract.
Increased staffing
At present, the fire department has a minimum staffing level of nine on duty but that level has often dropped to six on duty over the past year. The goal is to staff the department with at least 11 scheduled per shift with a shift minimum of nine on duty.
Drake said he would prefer to have 12 or 14 on duty for safety reasons, but said the new hires certainly help.
Pension multiplier reduction and early retirement
Pension benefits for eligible firefighters have been reduced in the new contract, but there’s an early retirement incentive for those choosing to retire before May 2020.
The previous contract had the city contributing 2.75 percent of a firefighter’s annual salary to the Municipal Employee Retirement System (MERS), which takes annual contributions from the city, invests them and pays out pension benefits.
If a firefighter retires before May 2020, they can receive the 2.75 percent benefit. If they wait, they’ll get a pension with a reduced multiplier, which is now set at 2.5 percent.
Any firefighter who retires early can also be eligible to serve on the department as a part-time or paid on-call firefighter, but only a handful of current firefighters are eligible for a pension.
Peterson called it a bridge benefit that puts emphasis on early retirement.
Drake said the he and several other people plan to retire by December 2019. That means the department will have to impart “a collective 500 years of experience” to a new batch of firefighters hired in to fill their shoes.
“We lost about 270 years of experience in the past year with retirements,” Drake said. “Within the next year and a half, that experience will be less than 50 collective years left behind at the department. While it’s beneficial for the city in the long run, they’re also taking away the majority of the experience with them.”
Signing bonuses and wage increases
Each of the current 15 firefighters on staff will get a $7,000 signing bonus if they stay with the department next year. That signing bonus will not be offered to new hires in 2019.
But, in 2020 and 2021, firefighters will receive a $2,000 signing bonus each year.
There’s also a new wage increase scale for all employees. Wage increases will be given at a rate of:
- 2 percent in 2019.
- 0 percent in 2020.
- 1 percent in 2021.
- 1 percent in 2022.
- 0 percent in 2023.
Peterson said the combination of the wage increases and signing bonuses may help offset some of the concessions, which include reductions in personal leave, sick and vacation time.
Personal and vacation time
According to the previous contract, firefighters with less than nine years got six days of vacation per year; those with nine to 20 years of service got nine days of vacation; and those with more had 12 days.
Firefighters with less than 10 years got one personal day off per year; those with more service get two personal days. Each 24-shift allowed for three firefighters to be off on leave. However, more could be off if they used sick time.
The new contract specifies that full-time firefighters hired after Jan. 1, 2014, and working 54 hours a week will earn a half-duty vacation day each month up to six duty days, which are 24 hours, of vacation per year for the first five years of continuous service.
Full-time firefighters who have more than five years of service will earn nine duty days of vacation each year. Those with 15 or more years of service will be entitled to 12 duty days each year.
Full-time firefighters hired after August 2018 will get six duty days of vacation up to eight years of service and nine days for those who have served more than nine years with the department.
For the first year of the contract, firefighters hired before 2014 will get two personal leave days, which also are 24 hours, per year. Those hired after 2014 will get one annual personal leave day.
In 2020, all employees with more than one year of service will be able to take three personal leave days each year. Ten-year firefighters will get four leave days, or 96 hours each year.
Sick time allowances
In the previous contract, each firefighter got six sick days per year. Those days could be rolled over year-to-year but maxed out at 60 days. Sick time could be used whenever the firefighter wanted but they had to present a doctor note to do so.
The new contract states that sick time for firefighters hired after January 1990 will be accumulated at a rate of one day each month but not to exceed 12 days a year. Any employee hired since Aug. 1 will accumulate 3.69 hours of sick time per bi-weekly pay period.
But, after 2020, all employees, regardless of seniority, will accumulate leave time at the reduced new hire rate, according to the contract.
Any unused sick time can be cashed out and paid to firefighters at the end of each year.
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