The Human Resources and Information Technology Committee met 10/12/2022. One of the items they discussed and voted on was the request to approve the 2023-2025 firefighter contract.
Human Resources Director Jay Ratchman and Fire Chief Jeremy Hansen highlighted some of the changes in this most recent contract. You can download the transcript of the full discussion below
One highlighted change regarded promotions. The new contract allows promotions based not on seniority but on who is most qualified. Previously, promotions had been given to the most senior employee who possessed the minimal qualifications for the position. This contact will allow Chief Hansen to, per Director Ratchman, “look at the big picture of what’s going on, what skills someone has, what they bring to the table and then make that promotion decision.”
The second change regarded longevity pay. Employees had been receiving compensation beyond their hourly wage, but they tended to focus on their hourly rate. In order for the wages to get closer to what the union was looking for, they eliminated the longevity pay which was about a quarter of a percent reduction.
The third highlighted change was the Advanced Life Support (ALS) Engine. This was a new item to the contract and something the Fire Department had been striving for since 2018. Chief Hansen went into detail about it.
Each firetruck was staffed with firefighters some of whom had special stills such as being tactical paramedics for the SWAT team or being trained in Urban Search and Rescue and structural collapse. The ALS Engine would allow them to have paramedics on all their fire trucks. This would be the culmination of their movement to improve from being only Emergency Medical Responders in 2018, to EMTs in 2020, and now ALS.
This change was important because historically the fire department has arrived at 80% of medical incidents before the ambulance, often 6-7 minutes before. The upgrade in the firefighters’ training will allow them to increase the chance of survival of their patients before the ambulance arrives.
The final main item highlighted was the scheduled pay increases. Union members would receive a 2.25% increase on 12/01/2023, a 1% increase on 07/01/2024, a 2% increase on 12/1/2024, and a 2.5% increase on 12/01/2025. That was a 7.75% increase over 3 years, so around 2.58% annually. When the elimination of longevity pay was factored in, that dropped to around a 2.3% annual increase. This was in line with the 2% – 3% average they were seeing at other fire departments with other union groups.
Additionally, the move from paramedic pay to ALS Engine pay would be a 2.75% increase over current EMT pay, but Chief Hansen did not anticipate the department would be operating at that level in 2023 and expected it wouldn’t be until 2024 or 2025 before they were paying those wages.
Director Ratchman also noted that some general language had been cleaned up and clarified.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) asked for some clarification on the vacation policy. Fire Chief Hansen responded that firefighters received 3, 6, or 10 days off per year based on their years of employment with AFD. That looked like a small number of days off, but because they served 48-hour shifts with 4 days off in between, two days off ended up being 10 days off.
Alderperson Kristin Alfheim (District 11) wondered if future budgets would need to be adjusted due to the step up from EMT to ALS Engine and the connected increase in pay.
Chief Hansen said there would not be any significant impact on future budgets, although there would perhaps be an increase in requests for additional supplies which they would be pursuing grants to fill.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) asked if the ALS Engine would change their relationship with the Gold Cross ambulance service.
Fire Chief Hansen said it would not change that. The fire department did not transport patients. The upgrade in training would simply allow the fire department to provide more advanced interventions more quickly.
Alderperson Maiyoua Thao (District 7) asked about the training needed fir the ALS Engine.
Fire Chief Jeremy Hansen said that in order to move up to the level of ALS ENGINES, they would need more paramedics. In order to accomplish this, they were hiring new firefighters with a focus on candidates who had paramedic training.
The Fire Department had also received a $200,000 grant to train up to six members of the department as paramedics which would be happening in the fall of 2023. This grant also covered the cost of overtime necessary to staff those positions while the employees were gone receiving their training.
The committee voted 5-0 to approve the contract.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1002762&GUID=100E9714-039E-4063-B716-5B789EA5720E
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