The Collinsville City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve a new contract with the International Association of Fire Fighters (AFL-CIO) Local 2625, representing the city’s firefighters.
Photo by Roger Starkey
The new contract gives the firefighters a 2 percent raise, which has been the standard raise for city workers in the past year. The agreement is effective from Jan. 1, 2013 to Dec. 31, 2015. Union employees will receive a lump sum payment for the retroactive wage increase.
The contract also modified the call-in policy that had been the subject of an arbitration hearing and settlement between the City and the union. The City changed the call-in policy in June, 2012 to require firefighters to remain on duty for the entire 2-3 hours of their shift when called in. Previously, firefighters called-in to cover on-duty staff who responded to an emergency were allowed to leave when the on-duty personnel returned.
The old procedure led to instances of a person leaving the station and getting called back within the two-hour period for which they were already being paid. They were then paid for an additional two-hour shift.
The union fought the change, saying it violated the terms of their collective bargaining agreement. An arbitrator ruled in the union’s favor in July. The city and the union reached an agreement to pay firefighters $103,000 of pay the union members did not receive as a result of the rules change (see related story).
The new call in procedure provides for a minimum of one hour paid overtime in place of the prior two-hour minimum and firefighters must remain on duty until released. If a firefighter accepts another call-in during the original one-hour window, pay continues from the time of the original call-in. Time worked greater than one hour is rounded to the next quarter hour. A call in for a Box alarm is a two-hour paid overtime minimum.
City Manager Scott Williams said Collinsville paid approximately $375,000 per year in overtime to the fire department in each of the past three years. Williams said he hopes the new policy will save the city from $50-60,000 per year in overtime pay over the next two years.
Residency requirements were also changed in the contract. Under the previous agreement, the firefighters were required to live within a 15-minute drive of one of the two fire stations in the city. The requirement has changed to living within a 30-mile radius, but in Illinois.
Williams said the change was consistent with changes in other recently negotiated contracts that allow for residency almost everywhere in Madison or St. Clair counties.
