Wilmette’s village board has approved a contract with the village’s unionized firefighters, one that leaves firefighters as the sole group of village employees not subject to a two-tier wage system.
Trustees approved the three-year contract, which includes raises, when they met Oct. 27.
The agreement, which covers the 34 members of the Firefighters Service Employee International Union Local 73, is retroactive to Jan. 1 of 2014, runs until Dec. 31 of next year and provides 2.5 percent annual pay increases for the first two years, and an increase of 2.25 percent for the final year, Assistant Village Manager Michael Braiman said Oct. 28.
The contract took two years to complete and required both a mediator’s help and a ruling from a federal arbitrator, Braiman said.
Negotiations began in October of 2013, Braiman said. In September of 2014, the sides began working with a mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, he said. The contract went to an FMCS arbitrator in April of 2015, he said.
Both sides agreed on annual pay increases, so arbitrator Marvin Hill ruled on four main issues, Braiman said. That included proposals from the village that would have instituted a two-tier pay system and a reduced sick leave “buy-back” policy for new firefighter hires, as well as a proposal that would have implemented random drug testing. Hill also ruled on a union proposal that would have increased the uniform allowance.
In each case, Hill ruled in favor of the departmental status quo, Braiman said. There will be no two-tier system or lowered sick time buy-back, no random drug testing and no increased uniform allowance.
This is the third time Wilmette has gone to arbitration in negotiations with its firefighters, Braiman said. The firefighters organized in 2000, he said.
The ruling left some village officials unhappy.
“We’re disappointed in the decision,” Village Board President Bob Bielinski said in an Oct. 29 statement. “While the arbitrator noted the village’s position was reasonable, the fire union is now the only employee group of the village not already in a two-tier compensation system, including other unionized employees who voluntarily agreed to a two-tier pay plan.”
Wilmette instituted two-tier payment schedules for its non-unionized employees in January 2011, in an effort to cut budget costs after the recession of 2009, Braiman said. Wilmette’s 33 unionized police patrol officers, who are represented by the Teamsters, agreed to a two-tier system in 2013, according to Hill’s ruling.
Bielinski said the ruling would have “an adverse impact” on Wilmette’s finances.
Firefighter’s union representative Dave Grajewski said on Oct. 29 that the arbitrator treated both sides equally.
“It was a long, difficult process, but we feel the process is designed to create fair results,” Grajewski said. “This was one of many examples that shows the system works.”
Braiman said that the firefighters’ salary increases for 2014 and 2015 were figured into each year’s budget and will be distributed as retroactive pay now that the contract has been approved.
In the contract’s final year, salaries for firefighters will range from a base of $71,970 for a new hire at the lowest step of the salary schedule to $99,744 for a firefighter with 20 years of service, Braiman said Oct. 30. He also said that negotiation on a new contract will probably begin in late fall or early winter of 2016.
Wilmette began negotiations on a new police contract last week, Braiman said Oct. 28. The current contract expires at the end of this year.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy
