The president of the Omaha City Council said Wednesday he is upset that a tentative wage freeze agreement with the Omaha firefighters union also includes pay hikes later on.
The proposed pay hikes could equate to up to an 18 percent raise over three years.
Council President Garry Gernandt said the firefighters would regain the raises they gave up “through the back door in future years. If the vote was today or tomorrow, I'd have to vote no.”
The tentative contract agreement covers five years. In exchange for a raise in the last three years of the deal, firefighters would accept a two-year wage freeze for 2009 and 2010.
Mayor Jim Suttle, who made the announcement Wednesday, called the agreement “a major contribution from our firefighters to help address our city's budget shortfall.”
The city has projected budget shortfalls for 2009 and 2010. It also has said wage freezes for the police, fire and civilian unions would save a total of $5 million a year.
Wednesday night, members of the city's largest civilian union approved a new union contract that includes wage freezes for 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Under the tentative deal for firefighters, wage increases of between 3.25 percent and 5.75 percent would be given in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Suttle spokesman Ron Gerard said the firefighters' pay increases take inflation into account because “historically, following a deep recession, there is a period of higher inflation.”
Gerard acknowledged that the city is assuming the recession will end by 2011.
Even if that's not the case, firefighters would receive at least the minimum raises. Whether the raises were at the low end or high end of the spectrum would most likely depend on the economic outlook and the current rate of inflation.
“We can't use a crystal ball to predict (a better economy) for sure, but one would hope that would be the situation,” Gerard said.
A major part of the new contract was not announced. Suttle said he's still working with the union to develop a plan to address a $500 million shortfall in the police and fire pension fund. A task force has recommended cuts in pension benefits and higher city contributions to help shore up the fund.
Firefighters union President Steve LeClair called the wage deal a “positive step.”
“We needed a consensus, and that's where we're at today,” LeClair said.
Two other councilmen, Pete Festersen and Chuck Sigerson, said they would wait to learn details of the entire contract before passing judgment.
“I'm not supportive of anything until we have details of pension benefit cuts and the elimination of spiking,” Festersen said. Spiking refers to employees who boost their pension benefits by working extra hours in their final years on the job.
Sigerson said he would “hold my thoughts on it right now.”
The mayor hopes to have a final contract ready to announce in the next two to four weeks. “We still have a lot of rolling up the sleeves to do,” Suttle said.
Firefighters and the City Council will have to sign off on the final terms of the contract.
LeClair said some may believe “firefighters don't give a damn about the City of Omaha,” but that's not the case.
“We're going to try to do everything we can to make sure we have a good, solvent city moving toward the future,” he said.
Contact the writer:
444-3100, maggie.obrien@owh.com
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