The Guadalupe Fire Department hasn’t seen a wage increase in 20 years, doesn’t have a full-time fire chief, and only has six full-time staff members, Fire Capt. Ryan Danger Mack said.
“We realized we didn’t have any rights because we didn’t have an MOU [memorandum of understanding] agreement, and it became a huge priority for us to make an agreement,” Danger Mack said.
A memorandum of understanding would establish a wage increase, overtime regulations, and pay incentives with the Fire Department’s union and Guadalupe City Council. After a year of negotiating, both parties couldn’t come to an agreement and declared an impasse on Nov. 22.
“The general consensus was they got sticker shock and immediately regretted it,” he said.
In 2021, City Council pulled back on an original proposal with increases that Danger Mack said he felt optimistic about and could make improvements to the department.
When the city came back to the table, it provided a best and final offer that included a 2 percent wage increase, a uniform maintenance allowance, a reduction in overtime hours, and incentive pay for special assignments like haz-mat officer, investigator, or field training officer positions, according to city documents.
However, the proposed raises and incentives were lower than the Fire Department needed and didn’t address hiring new leadership, Danger Mack said.
“They are going to take away various things that we deserve,” he said. “It’s rough because with inflation it’s already challenging, but that’s life. As a supervisor, I want to protect my guys and make sure they aren’t being taken advantage of.”
In the meantime, one firefighter quit and an engineer just resigned, he added.
“We can go back to the negotiating table in January or when they want to restart, but we have no leverage so I don’t foresee any negotiating,” Danger Mack said. “They just don’t support the Fire Department.”
Mayor Ariston Julian said the initial proposal would have put the city over its public safety budget, citing overtime as a major contributing factor, so Guadalupe had to make amendments to the MOU.
“We’re looking at what’s financially viable for the city. If you don’t have it you can’t purchase it; we’re tight when it comes to the budget,” Julian said. “We rely on a lot of property tax, and the new housing development hasn’t moved forward with restrictions to the railroad. Cannabis hasn’t come to fruition. Other businesses are coming in, [but] we have to look at our budget. ”
He said the city agreed to look into hiring a battalion chief and to make adjustments for training incentives, but no decisions have been made. There’s no date set for any follow-up discussion.
“There was a gap between what they wanted and what we could afford,” Julian said. “They’re stepping up to what the community needs and we appreciate that. That’s why we need to get them back at the table to find a happy medium between the city’s budget and the Fire Department.”
This article appears in Dec 22-29, 2022.
