NORTHAMPTON — Firefighters and EMTs at Northampton Fire Rescue are hoping to secure a new contract with the city and avoid arbitration ahead of a scheduled mediation on Monday.
The union representing Northampton Fire Rescue, Local 108, has been without a contract since July of last year, with negotiations for a new contract with the city ongoing for more than a year.
Union President Tim Putnam said the main demands for the 58-member union are to achieve pay parity with other fire departments across Hampshire County, as well as parity with Northampton police officers.
“What we’re looking to do is not get rich, but get paid what we deserve to be paid,” Putnam said. “My one fear is if we don’t get what other departments are making, then we’re going to start losing people, and when we lose people, there’s going to be no incentive to come to Northampton Fire.”
According to the city’s collective bargaining agreements with Northampton Fire Rescue and Northampton Police Department, firefighters are presently contracted for wages ranging between $21 and $26 an hour based on experience, compared to $24 to $32 an hour for patrol officers, about a 25% difference in wages for the most experienced members.
Other nearby fire departments, such as Amherst, Easthampton and Belchertown, are also contracted at higher wages than in Northampton, according to those respecitve cities’ agreements.
Putnam emphasized that police and other fire departments were wholly deserving of those wages, but that Northampton Fire Rescue deserved to have equal parity, especially when considering EMS services provided during the pandemic.
“Everything that we did, everything we were asked to do, that was beyond our normal working conditions,” he said. “We all work hard, we all do our jobs, and we do them well together.”
City officials did not respond to several requests for comment.
Representatives for the city and the fire department will convene in a mediation session on Monday, followed by a meeting with members of the state Joint Labor-Management Committee, to try to hammer out a deal for a new contract. Should both sides fail to come to an agreement, then they will head to arbitration, as happened in 2013, when state arbiters ruled in favor of Local 108. The City Council at that time voted not to accept the ruling of state arbitration panel, and the two sides eventually came to an agreement on two three-year contracts.
At the Northampton Stop & Shop on Wednesday, several firefighters stood outside the entrance to garner signatures in support of Local 108’s call to “Bridge the Gap” in pay parity. According to Putnam, the union has collected around 1,500 written signatures, along with an additional 2,500 signatures on a change.org petition.
“It’s very difficult to attract candidates, especially quality candidates,” said William Schuetze, a captain with Fire Rescue, who has been with the department for 16 years. “We need to think toward the future for protecting the city.”
In addition to collecting signatures in support, a rally in front of City Hall is also scheduled for Monday morning in support of firefighters.
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
