Santa Maria declared an impasse in its negotiations with the Firefighters Union Local 2020 on April 12.
The city and the union—which represents 57 firefighters, captains, engineers, and fire inspectors—first entered negotiations in November 2023 before the contract expired in December, city Public Information Officer Mark van de Kamp said in a statement.
After three contract offers, the parties haven’t reached an agreement and will enter mediation moving forward.
“The City Council remains committed to an agreement that works financially within the city’s budget constraints while demonstrating its continued commitment to public safety,” Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino said in the statement.
A negotiating party declares an impasse when it can’t agree on a successor contract, Firefighters Union Local 2020 President Matthew Chircop told the Sun. It starts a procedure that requires the employer to go through a mediation and fact-finding process if they choose, and they have to exhaust those efforts before they can impose a last, best, and final offer on the bargaining group.
“As long as they follow the impasse procedure, they can just impose on us, which means forcefully give us the last, best, and final offer. We don’t accept that, they just impose it on us; it’s a one-way agreement,” Chircop said.
Firefighters and community members planned to attend the April 16 City Council meeting to share their “outrage” with the impasse and advocate for a new contract during public comment, Chircop said before the meeting.
“Ultimately, an investment in your firefighters is an investment in the community and their safety,” Chircop said. “The voters overwhelmingly approved Measure U, they decided to tax themselves an additional 1 cent per dollar, and that support is astounding. We see it every day in the community, and unfortunately our elected leaders have forgotten about us.”
Measure U passed during the November 2018 election with 74.2 percent voter approval and proposed to “maintain/enhance essential services” including firefighter staffing, according to Ballotpedia. Chircop said that he’d like the city to use Measure U funds toward salary increases that bring Santa Maria firefighters up to market rate.
The Local 2020 brought forward about six proposals that tried to achieve average market pay in January during early stages of negotiations, which the city rejected, Chircop said. The most recent two-year contract proposed in April included a 5 percent increase in year one and a 5 percent increase in year two with small increases to health coverage, he said.
“While on the surface it may seem like a lot, the agencies in our market in the surrounding area, they already have scheduled raises for the next few years,” Chircop said. “We’re 14 percent behind market; their proposal would keep us at 12 percent behind the average market. … We’ve been open to fixing the disparity over multiple years, and the city is not considering it one bit.”
In an effort to help firefighters spend time with their families, Chircop said the union proposed a language change that would allow firefighters to use existing sick leave for baby bonding. Currently, firefighters have to use their vacation time or take unpaid leave if they want to be home to help care for their newborns.
“We have 61 members and over 60 children under the age of 10. That’s really frustrating too when we hire someone in the process of having a family and children, since they’re on probation they can’t use vacation yet and are not covered [by] the [Family and Medical Leave Act],” Chircop said. “We can’t use sick leave for baby bonding unless it’s in the [memorandum of understanding]; they wouldn’t even talk about it with us.”
Facing recruitment and retention issues, wage improvements and additional benefits would help the Fire Department maintain and enhance public safety services, he said.
“Every time someone leaves, it’s like resetting the clock. It does affect the workforce and it does affect your safety,” Chircop said.
