Two years ago, Texarkana voters approved collective bargaining for firefighters. Our promise, then and now, was to continue delivering excellent service, be good stewards of city resources and give back to the community.
Our election win gave us a seat at the table with city management. Our hope was to help the city ensure competitive firefighter wages, benefits and the safest possible working conditions. We set out to work with the city to keep our fire department strong.
So far, we have had 10 negotiation meetings with the city in the past year, along with two mediation meetings. Using a combative outside lawyer, the city has rejected all but one of our proposals. Mostly ignored by the city's lawyer have been substantive issues such as fire station staffing, wages and retirement security, and a process for depoliticizing department grievances and discipline.
Since it is against Texas law for firefighters to strike -and we never would even contemplate such action-it is important that the voter-approved collective bargaining process be effective. This Texas labor law helps ensure fairness for the city, for us, and for taxpayers.
In hindsight, both sides came into our first meeting or two with a lot of hope and good will. In it, we laid out proposals on staffing, wages, a new optional retirement plan (457b), and a new way to select Civil Service commissioners.
We diligently researched other fire department contracts and National Fire Protection Association safety standards-to bring up wages and make the fire department and public safer.
Our market analysis of 15 cities showed that Texarkana firefighters are paid any where from 23 to 34 percent behind the average. In response, the city offered a two-year contract with a 2 percent raise the first year and a 1 percent the second. The city's offer, had it been accepted, would have kept Texarkana as one of the lowest-paid fire departments in the eastern half of Texas. The offer won't even keep up with inflation over the next two years and will leave us even further behind at the end of the proposed contract.
On Oct. 5, after all of the meetings, we were given the city's "last, best, and final" offer. Our members voted the proposal down, concluding that it essentially degraded our current wage rates, benefits and working conditions.
As for why, the negotiations have failed so far, we do not believe the city budget is the problem. The city had a $12 million surplus starting in fiscal year 2018. The city expended just over $5 million of that to pay off a bond early. Then put $3 million of the surplus into a "major maintenance" fund which is so far unallocated. The remaining surplus balance remains in the city general fund above and is beyond the standard 60-day operating reserve balance.
The city's contract offer also did not address our safety concerns, including "automatic aid," the system that affects fire service coverage in and around Texarkana. Citizens need to know that without negotiated improvements their fire protection will be compromised. Firefighters also are being placed in jeopardy as we too often arrive at fire scenes without adequate resources to perform safe and effective emergency operations.
Looking ahead, as required by Texas law, we have asked city leaders to let an independent third-party arbitrator help with a resolution and they have declined. Another option, which we hope to avoid, is litigation to compel the city to meet its obligations under voter-approved collective bargaining. We do not want to be forced to litigate to compel the city to resume negotiating in good faith.
A better solution is for informed Texarkana citizens to contact City Council members and urge them to come back to the table and negotiate a contract that makes sense for all involved-and which provides competitive wages and safe staffing levels that comply with national safety standards. We ask you to contact City Council today. Here's the address: http://www.ci.texarkana.tx.us/171/City-Council.
Finally, please know that no matter how this negotiation works out, Texarkana firefighters will remain the professionals you expect us to be. We will continue to maintain your trust in the community as we seek a contract that is fair and equitable for firefighters, for the city and for taxpayers.
Scott Robertson
President
Texarkana, Texas,
Firefighters Association
IAFF Local 367