Worcester (MA) Firefighters, City Reach Deal After Yearlong Standoff

Worcester MA Fire Department

Adam Bass
masslive.com
(TNS)

A contract between a Worcester firefighters union and the city will include a wage increase of 9% over three years and improved leave benefits, according to a letter addressed to the City Council by City Manager Eric Batista.

After firefighters from the union worked without a contract for more than a year, the Worcester Firefighters Local 1009 and the city agreed on a new three-year contract in August.

Batista’s letter to the council reads that the agreement between the union and the city features a retroactive 3% wage increase for the previous fiscal year, a 3% raise in the current fiscal year, and a 2% raise for the coming fiscal year that begins July 1, 2025. Additionally, there is another 1% market rate adjustment raise that retroactively would go into effect on June 30 of this year.

On top of that, a 2% air compression stipend related to equipment used by firefighters will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.

In addition to wage increases, the contract would give union members improved leave benefits, including paid parental and family sick leave.

In the letter, Batista recommended the City Council adopt the ordinance and expressed appreciation for union leaders and members for reaching an agreement with the city.

“Both my administration and union leadership agree that the well-being of the membership is directly related to the success of the Worcester Fire Department and that both management and membership bear responsibility in strengthening morale and carrying out the department’s vision,” Batista wrote. “As part of reaching this agreement, my administration pledged to re-examine some of the management practices that membership raised concerns about during the bargaining process.”

Ryan Kelley, the union’s vice president, previously told MassLive that the members of the Local 1009 were pleased with the new contract. The previous contract expired on June 30, 2023, meaning that firefighters worked without a city contract for more than a year, according to Kelley. That was something the union called attention to on X, formerly known as Twitter, earlier this summer. Throughout the past year, the union posted updates about how many days went by without an approved contract.

“Both sides had to make concessions in order to make this work and finally come to an agreement,” Kelley said. “We are very pleased with the result.”

The Worcester City Council will vote at a meeting Tuesday on whether to change Worcester’s salary ordinance — which establishes the city’s pay grades and benefits and needs to be updated when new contracts are agreed upon — but Batista negotiates and handles enacting contracts, according to Thomas Matthews, a spokesman for Batista.

Matthews said the contract would go into effect after the Council votes to advertise it and it has been advertised for two weeks.

The relationship between the city and the union has been difficult at times, with the union releasing in May select results from a private survey they said that found that 90% of respondents expressed fear of negative consequences for using sick time, and 81% reported coming to work while sick or injured because they were afraid to use sick time. Another finding the union shared was that only 6% of respondents said the relationship between the administration and Local 1009 is “good.”

The select findings from the survey were posted on the union’s X page, with a posted statement reading that the results were brought to the city manager’s office in February and were originally intended to be private.

©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit masslive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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