TEXARKANA, Texas - The city's firefighter union has filed a petition it hopes will be the first step toward forcing officials into binding arbitration regarding a new employment contract.
Including more than 300 in the last six days, 1,360 residents signed the petition to put a city charter change up for a vote in November's general election, said Texarkana, Texas, Fire Department driver-engineer Scott Robertson, union president. He submitted the petition to City Secretary Jennifer Evans on Thursday afternoon.
The union needed signatures from 5% of the city's registered voters, or 1,127, according to Robertson. Evans could disqualify some signatures during the petition's certification process. About 40% of the signatures on a 2016 union petition were disqualified.
"It's going to be close," Robertson said.
If enough signatures pass muster, residents will vote whether to change the city charter to require that negotiators accept binding third-party arbitration. The union's hope is to break through an impasse that dates to 2018 and finally achieve an agreeable new contract.
The petition drive faced obstacles this year as responses to the COVID-19 pandemic - including social distancing and stay-at-home orders - made it all but impossible to get new signatures in person as required by law. Robertson said the union's effort lost seven to eight weeks because of the pandemic.
The proposed charter changes include requiring arbitration within 45 days of written notice from the union. "The arbitration ruling shall be final, binding, and enforceable against both parties," the amendment states.
The city and the union would individually choose an arbitrator and attempt to jointly agree on a third to form a three-person arbitration board. If no agreement was reached, the American Arbitration Association would choose the third arbitrator. A majority vote would be required for any decisions the board would make.
The arbitration board would be restricted as to what it can consider in making its decisions. Those factors include firefighter compensation in comparable cities, changes in the cost of living, employee qualifications, city revenues and the effect of any arbitration on taxpayers.
TTFD firefighters and their supporters sought to take advantage of the March 3 primary elections to gather registered voters' signatures. With tents and tables set up at several Texarkana polling places, they asked for support in their effort to achieve a new contract featuring higher wages.
In November 2016, Texas-side voters elected to allow the Fire Department to engage in collective bargaining. Firefighters later chose the union as their representative in employment talks.
In 2018 and 2019, multiple meetings and an attempt at third-party mediation did not result in a contract.
Union members voted against accepting a contract proposed by the city, rejecting it as unresponsive to firefighters' concerns. The city rejected the union's request to resolve disagreements through binding arbitration.