A day of reckoning is arriving.
The city of Houston and the firefighters union are sparring over who bears responsibility for their years-long legal battle, following a judge’s request for them to start renegotiating the firefighters’ contracts within the next month.
The city usually negotiates contracts with the union every few years. Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration and Houston firefighters hit an impasse in 2017 when the firefighters latest contract expired. Unable to reach a new agreement, the union sued the city, alleging that Houston had broken a state law that sets guidelines for how police officers and firefighters should be paid.
In May, the Texas Legislature passed a bill mandating arbitration for such disputes. The bill’s primary sponsor, state Sen. John Whitmire, is set to succeed Turner in January and has been a vocal supporter of Houston firefighters during his mayoral campaign. The city has since challenged the constitutionality of the new state law.
On Thursday, State District Judge Lauren Reeder affirmed the constitutionality of Whitmire’s legislation. Reeder declined, however, to grant immediate arbitration in this case, stating that the bill cannot be applied retroactively.
At the same time, the judge approved the union’s request for the two sides to start collective bargaining within 30 days. They will negotiate benefits and back pay for each fiscal year since the firefighters have not had a contract or reached an impasse.
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Whitmire has long positioned himself as an ally of law enforcement and first responders, promising “help is on the way” for firefighters when he formally launched his mayoral campaign last year. He secured the endorsement of the Houston’s firefighters union in September, after successfully championing the binding arbitration bill in the Legislature.
The mayor-elect could not be reached for comments on Friday but has previously vowed to prioritize ending the long-standing stalemate once he takes office.
“We will meet with them and give them a contract that is fair to Houstonian taxpayers and the firefighters,” Whitmire said at his victory party earlier this month. “Can you imagine a city suing their first responders? We couldn’t make it without them.”
Turner has repeatedly warned of the fiscal consequences of additional pay raises. As federal COVID-relief dollars are set to dry up, officials have forecast deficits between $114 million and $264 million during the next mayor’s first term.
“The binding arbitration bill may play well for some politically, but it will not bode well for Houston and its financial future,” Turner said earlier this year of Whitmire’s bill. “At a time when we are trying to eliminate structural financial barriers, this bill imposes another structural barrier.”
See here for the previous update. The quoted bit after the ellipsis captures the situation the new Mayor is inheriting. He will need to come to an agreement with the firefighters, which will cost the city more money, at a time when he will also need to deal with near- and long-term budget issues. In the same way that Mayor Turner had to deal with pension reform before he could really do much else, Mayor-elect Whitmire will have to get this done before he can move on to other things. In all sincerity, I wish him luck.
Fire fighters used to retire at 30, 35, or 40 years of service. Now they are retiring at 20 and moving on. I know of at least two who left l retired this weekend with 20 years. Their main reason for leaving? This issue right here. Because this ridiculous lack of accountability on the mayor’s part could easily happen again.
I talked to a trainee and he said their class started with 48 people and before they finished the first 1/3 of the classes they needed to complete, which was EMT-Basic (not paramedic, and still needing fire training certs) they had only 28 people left and they hadn’t taken the national registry yet, which can weed out even more people. That’s less than 50% and they hadn’t completed the first certification yet. If those 28 went through paramedic training, I believe you’d lose another 50% and they’d still have to do fire training. Of those 14 people, take away those who go to other departments with their newly earned certifications and i think Houston would be lucky to have 10 out of a class of 48. Supply and demand seems to be working out so well for Houston…..
NOT.
Correction: I know of at least two who retired this weekend with 20 years.