A big crowd showed up Tuesday morning to support the Villages Professional Firefighters union in a bargaining session with Villages District officials.
Most of those in the standing-room-only crowd at the Lake Miona Recreation Center bargaining session, wore the gold-colored T-shirts of the firefighters’ union, most of them firefighters, firefighters’ wives or other family members. Some were Villagers who are retired firefighters. They wore shirts representing their firefighting careers.
The session began with District Manager Janet Tutt reading a prepared statement in which she described angst of residents expressed in phone calls and email to the District Office. The residents expressed fears of calls to 911 that might go unanswered due to staffing issues raised previously by the union.
She called that perception “just plain wrong.”
In a bargaining session on Feb. 20, union representatives had complained of turnover in the Villages Public Safety Department. You can read more about that HERE
Staffing remains a sticking point in the negotiations.
“The reality is we operate with two personnel per engine, two personnel per ladder,” said Jim Brantley, attorney for the Villages Professional Firefighters Union.
He called that, “A safety problem.”
Brantley proposed that beginning Oct. 1, 2018 anytime there are less than 29 employees on duty, on-duty firefighters receive “hazard pay” for every hour they work.
In the Feb. 20 bargaining session, the union had asked that the starting pay for EMTs be raised to $40,000 per year. The union asked to bump the starting salary for a paramedic to $50,000 and a starting lieutenant’s pay to $57,500.
Tutt said Tuesday that in 2016, Villages EMTs had earned between $34,160 and $64,000, paramedics had earned $44,775 to $65,010 and lieutenants had earned $53,750 to $106,103.
But the firefighters’ union’s attorney disputed those figures, arguing that that they were inflated by overtime.
“It’s a little inflammatory to tell residents we have a lieutenant making $106,000 per year,” Brantley said.
The District has proposed under a new agreement, EMTs would earn between $35,000 to $55,000; paramedics would earn between $48,000 and $68,000; and lieutenants would earn between $55,000 to $75,000.
The District has offered to continue to contribute 15 percent annually to the firefighters’ retirement plan and offered an incentive for firefighters to contribute more with the District matching the increased contribution.
A followup bargaining session will be later this month at Colony Cottage Recreation Center.
