Arbitrator Orders RI City to Retroactively Pay Firefighters

WARWICK, RI—A panel of arbitrators has resolved the last outstanding grievance pursued by the city's firefighters, calling for the city to retroactively pay firefighters an extra 2.25% for work performed during the budget year that ended June 30.

The decision will cost the city a total of $478,456 in retroactive payments, according to Mayor Joseph J. Solomon.

In January, the firefighters union negotiated a new three-year agreement, partially retroactive, for the period from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2022.

That agreement had not resolved the firefighters' wages for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2019.

Previously, the union had sought a 4% raise for wages during that period, and later it sought 3%, according to Solomon.

That 3% raise would have been in addition to a 7.5% raise in the contract for a three-year period that ended on July 1, 2018, he said.

Solomon had hoped to settle the matter by giving the firefighters 1.5%, but he said the arbitrators' decision for 2.5% is "fair and reasonable."

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