CA City Agrees to Increase Firefighter Pay

July 03 -- After waiting 10 years for a cost of living increase, what’s another five hours?

A hearty round of applause erupted from the audience during the June 26 Vallejo City Council meeting after councilors unanimously agreed to give the city’s firefighters a five percent raise.

The action took place around 11:30 p.m., nearly five hours after the council meeting originally began.

The salary increase retroactive to March is in place for one year, costing the city about $1 million for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan thanked city officials and representatives from the International Association of Firefighters, Local 1186, for having the patience to negotiate the agreement.

“What’s important to me is that we listen to one and another; we haven’t had that in quite a few years,” Sampayan said prior to the council vote. “I have been very disappointed in that.”

Indeed, negotiations have been ongoing for years as the last agreement between the city and firefighters lapsed in June 2012.

Vallejo firefighters have not received a cost of living adjustment since 2007-08 and the group experienced a wage reduction during the 2009-10 fiscal year, city staff said in a report to the council.

Sampayan said breakdown of the previous negotiations has left a sour taste.

City Manager Greg Nyhoff said Vallejo has had trouble retaining and recruiting firefighters. The goal, he said, is to have a competitive salary.

Nyhoff said the new agreement is a “good step forward into the future” when both sides go back to the negotiating table.

Association spokesman Kevin Brown thanked City Hall for the agreement.

“Our members have faced hardships of historic levels,” Brown said. “Six years without a new contract, nearly a dozen years without a cost of living increase, increasing call volume, and decreasing staffing levels.”

Brown said the agreement is the start of a healthy labor-management relationship.

City Hall and the Vallejo Police Officers Association in April reached a similar agreement. That one year deal provided a five percent raise for all steps in each police salary range.

The raise increased Vallejo’s expenditures by about $400,000 for fiscal year 2017-18. For the following fiscal year, the increase cost the city $1.6 million.

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