|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
After more than a year of negotiations, the union that represents Redwood City’s firefighters is confident that its persistence has finally paid off in the form of a new contract with the city.
The sudden move to an agreement, which was initiated by the city’s bargaining team last week, comes as a surprise—one that Redwood City Firefighters Association (RCFFA) president Michael Elhihi attributes to a major social media push over the last month.
Elhihi said he heard “through the grapevine” that his social media campaign was bringing negative attention to the city. “It sounds like the city is finally willing to come to the table, which is crazy to think about because it’s been so long.”
The new contract, if approved, will give RCFFA members a 7% raise over two years, while maintaining most of the union’s existing benefits, including compensatory time off and vacation leave. With the focus on protecting what they already have, the members’ gains are minimal, said Elhihi, who added that the union proposed to “cost share” with the city, or contribute a portion of their salary to pay for certain benefits.
The starting annual salary for a Redwood City firefighter/engineer is currently $100,704.
“This isn’t some crazy deal. There’s no excess—we’re going back to the median salary,” he said. From his perspective, the city “has backed off trying to take the benefits we already have.”
News of a possible agreement comes after nearly 14 months of contentious negotiations between the firefighters and the city, which officially ended when the union, facing a standstill, went to arbitration in mid-February. Redwood City’s firefighters have been out of contract since July 1, 2021.
The tone of these discussions have felt different than usual, according to union vice president and lead negotiator, Jason Fox. While being out of contract isn’t unusual, to be this far down the road and still negotiating on a small pay raise and existing benefits is, he said.
One of the firefighters’ main frustrations has been understaffing over the last couple of years. Describing the city’s management of hiring as “reactive” instead of proactive, Fox said that the department has been severely understaffed throughout the pandemic, with firefighters working multiple 24-hour shifts in a row and using their own vacation days just to get a break. At one point, the department was short 20 firefighters out of their 75 members, according to Fox.
“It was egregious,” he said. “It was unsafe to have guys working 120 hours straight in a firehouse.”
The city said it shares firefighters’ concerns about working overtime and highlighted 14 recent hires—ten in September 2021 and another four in February—to meet staffing needs.
“The city values our firefighters and their service to the community,” a city spokesperson wrote in an email. “At this time, we are fully staffed at the fire suppression level per the department's budgeted positions. We are conducting a standards of cover study to confirm recommended service levels and appropriate corresponding staffing levels for the community as it has grown and changed.”
Mayor Giselle Hale, an advocate of workers’ rights who has stood alongside local unions in the past, also reaffirmed her commitment to the firefighters.
“I support workers and their rights to organize and deeply value Redwood City employees and the services they provide,” she said in an email. “Council has received regular updates on employee interests from the employees directly as well as through our negotiating team.”
Recent hires have gotten the fire department back to minimal staffing levels, which Elhihi said has made a significant impact.
“Staffing has definitely been addressed. People are going home, not burning their own accrued leave to spend time with families,” he said. “We’ve proven now what we’ve been saying all along—that if you adequately staff us, you don’t have those issues.”
In 2018, Redwood City voters passed a city ordinance—Measure RR—a general sales tax for public safety and other general fund purposes that would prevent cuts to police, fire and paramedic services, according to a city spokesperson.
However, in the fall of 2020, facing a pandemic-induced revenue loss of over $30 million, the city proposed a $4.9 million reduction to police and fire services, including leaving some positions vacant and temporarily closing Fire Engine 9. (Facing strong resistance, the city ultimately decided to keep Engine 9 open.)
According to the city, these large reductions were only considered out of necessity and in response to a loss of over $30 million during the pandemic-induced recession.
“Local sales tax revenue, combined with using $9 million in city reserves, has been essential to preserving services during this time,” a spokesperson for the city said. “While every City department experienced budget reductions and hiring freezes, we have avoided layoffs thanks in part to those revenues.”
Union members will vote next week on the contract agreement which, if ratified, could go to the city council for final approval on May 9.
“We hope to complete negotiations soon; I don’t have any other updates I can share at this point,” said City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz.
Despite some lingering frustrations, Fox said he’s “pretty happy” with the proposed deal and hopeful that it will receive the necessary support from the members.
“It’s pretty much just waiting for signatures at this point,” said Fox. “My gut feeling is this is gonna pass,” said Fox.
The RCFFA is the Redwood City branch of the San Mateo County Local 2400 union, which represents more than 500 firefighters and paramedics countywide.
