The Los Angeles City Council approved a two-year labor agreement Friday with Los Angeles firefighters that eliminates a 2 percent wage disparity with the city’s police officers.
Firefighters and fire captains will not receive pay increases this year, but will see their salaries go up by 2 percent starting July 2015 to match police officer salaries.
If the police union — still negotiating its contract with the city — secures even higher wages, the city has agreed under the contract to apply the same increases to firefighter salaries.
Mayor Eric Garcetti hailed the deal, saying “this is a responsible contract that respects the bravery of our firefighters and the budget realities we face.”
Frank Lima, president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, said firefighters are now “looked at as equal” to other public safety workers and are no longer “second fiddle” to police officers.
Councilmen Paul Krekorian and Paul Koretz, who were part of a panel that oversaw the labor negotiations, said the contract aim was to create equity for firefighters, who have lagged behind other employee groups in terms of their benefits and salaries.
Under the contract, firefighters will receive an immediate 2.5 percent increase to a monthly dental insurance subsidy, and another 2.6 percent increase in July 2015.
The city also will increase its monthly health insurance subsidy for firefighters by 5 percent starting in July 2015.
The contract will cost the city $1.6 million in the current fiscal year, which started in July.
Since there is no increase to the monthly health insurance subsidy this year, the contract will save the city an estimated $2 million, according to city officials.
The contract does call for a 5 percent increase to the health insurance subsidy next year, and will result in $12.9 million in costs for the city in fiscal year 2015, bringing the full amount of the two-year contract’s costs to taxpayers to about $13.5 million, according to a city report.
—City News Service