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The Uniformed Firefighters' Association Oct. 27 reached a tentative contract settlement with the city that provides 17.52 percent in raises over 50 months, a portion of which will be financed by reducing the pay scale for future hires and making all Firefighters work an additional 15-hour tour.
The package, which must be ratified by the UFA's 8,700 members, is similar in its wage terms to an agreement made two weeks earlier by the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association granting 17-percent hikes over 51 months.
Cut From PBA Mold
That deal, which is in the process of being ratified, also requires a sharp reduction in the pay scale for future hires during their first 5 1/2 years on the job, consistent with an arbitration award made early this summer to settle a Patrolmen's Benevolent Association contract.
Because the UFA deal is 26 months longer than the PBA deal, it temporarily pushes Firefighters' maximum salary above that for Police Officers: $63,309 retroactive to Aug. 1, 2005, compared to $59,588 for cops under a deal that expired Aug. 1, 2004. The two unions have traditionally had the same maximum salary.
A significant; portion of the first two years of the wage hikes for each of those unions is offset by the reduction in the pay scale for future hires. But because savings to the city are greater under the PBA deal due to the higher attrition rate among cops, the Bloomberg administration demanded additional savings from the UFA to even out its costs.
Won't Affect Jan. Class
UFA President Stephen J. Cassidy added to the disparity in two respects. In contrast with the January class of Police Officers that begins training under the reduced salary schedule, Firefighter recruits who are hired that same month will be paid using the progression for incumbent UFA members. And Mr. Cassidy insisted that once persons hired after that conclude their 13 weeks of training and begin working in firehouses, they advance from the "Academy rate" of $25,100 to the new starting salary of $32,700. Police Officers are trained for six months and are paid the Academy rate for that entire period.
To get all those costs in line, the UFA was required by the city to make bigger reductions in the pay scale for post January hires than the PBA. As a result, those Firefighters will suffer a particularly sharp decrease in what they are paid during their first six years of service.
Under the PBA''s arbitration award-which like the UFA contract stretched from 5 to 5 1/2 years the time in which it takes a new employee to reach maximum salary -cops hired this year would get $48,000 more in base salary during their first six years on the job than those who join the NYPD in 2006. Under the UFA deal, those hired in January 2006 will receive about $55,000 more over their first six years on the job than those who are hired after that.
In a unique twist intended to further reduce the city's costs, the UFA has agreed to help lobby for legislation changing the city's Administrative Code so that cops or Correction Officers who transfer into the FDNY start at the entry-level salary and are subject to the reduced pay scale.
Keep Pension Rights
Currently, such transfers allow the employees to carry over the pay levels from their old agencies. If the legislation were approved, Labor Relations Commissioner James F. Hanley said, it would not affect the transferred employees' pension rights, which would include their service in the other departments.
Mayor Bloomberg said the contract settlement, which runs from June 1, 2002 through July 31, 2006, was funded through "innovative and creative" productivity enhancements and other measurable savings, such as a two-month contract extension.
"The city applied the basic economic framework found in agreements reached with our other uniformed forces," he said. "[Our] commitment to attain fiscally responsible contracts that include productivity enhancements has again been dovetailed with the union's goal to achieve fair treatment and substantial compensation for its members."
Mr. Cassidy said that while firefighters could never be paid enough for what they do, the city had taken a "big step in the right direction" with the new contract. He added that he expected it to be ratified by union members.
Raise Breakdown
Under the proposed wage accord, upon ratification firefighters will receive a 5-percent hike retroactive to the first day of the contract, June 1 2002. They'll get another 5-percent hike retroactive to June 1, 2003. The last two years of the tentative contract provide a 3-percent raise effective Aug. 1, 2004, and a 3.15 percent increase effective Aug. 1, 2005.
The two five-percent raises equal those won by the PBA under its two-year contract. The third and fourth year raises are consistent with those under the sanitation union contract announced Oct. 12.
The Sergeants' Benevolent Association, however, scoffed at the 3 and 3.15 percent raises in reaching a 2-year contract settlement Oct. 20, arguing that 3-percent raises barely keep pace with the rate of inflation. The SBA's membership has yet to ratify its deal.
Under the deal currently on the table for UFA members, the average firefighter stands to receive between 15,000 and $20,000 in back pay, according to Commissioner Hanley.
The city would also increase its contributions to the active and retiree welfare funds by $100 annually for each active and retired firefighter, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2005. It also bumps up uniform cleaning allowances by $100, Firefighters hired after Jan. 17, 2006 would also receive an additional $1,150 annuity contribution for their first 18 months of service.
Starting Pay Cut
In return, the UFA agreed to slash starting salaries from $36,878 to $25,100 for firefighters hired after the January 2006 class. Mr. Cassidy said there was no avoiding that concession after a state arbitration panel etched it into the pattern of the PBA contract in June.
"Once the arbitrator decided to reduce starting salaries for the PBA, this was cut in stone," he said. "My belief was that if we went to arbitration we would end up with the same package."
Union officials point out the pay cut is less onerous initially for Firefighters because they spend less time at the lower wage than Police Officers-13 weeks com?pared to six months.
Starting salary will jump to $32,700 for the rest of that initial year for future Firefighters, making the prorated salary $30,800.
After a' year-and-a-half on the job, the salary would rise to $36,123. Firefighters can then expect increment payments at 12-month intervals,going from $40,373 to 44,091 and $46,854 before reaching the maximum sal?ary of $63,309 (excluding overtime, holiday pay and night differentials) after 5 1/2 years. Currently, the maximum salary is $54,200.
The deal also extended the provisions of the Roster Staffing Agreement through January 2011.
Increase 5-Person Crews
Teat agreement, originally signed in 1996 and due to expire in January 2006, guarantees five-Firefighter staffing for at least 60 of the city's 198 engine companies. Another four specialized Hazardous Material units, while not included in the contract, will go to five-person staffing in 2006, the city said.
As part of the contract deal, the union promised to withdraw several outstanding legal actions it filed against the Fire Department related to assigning and scheduling firefighters outside of active duty.
Mr. Cassidy said the union will start its ratification process immediately, but that the issue wouldn't be decided before mid-December.
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