Denver firefighters face $7 million in pay cuts
By Tillie Fong 
| August 28, 2009 | 7:01 AM
Denver firefighters will vote next week on whether to give up their raises for the next two years to help the city balance its budget.
On Wednesday, union leaders with Denver Firefighters Local 858 reached a tentative agreement with the city to forego $7 million in salary and benefits in 2010 and 2011 to help Denver address a budget shortfall of $120 million.
“This agreement would ensure that all fire apparatus and all firehouses stay open, and our firefighters are not laid off,” said Aaron Jonke, secretary-treasurer for the union, which represents 918 firefighters working in Denver.
This is not the first time this year that the city’s contract with firefighters has been modified. In April, the union agreed to give up $1.4 million in wages and benefits in 2009, and another $1.4 million in 2010. Firefighters were scheduled to get a 4 percent raise in 2009.
“We got our raise but sacrificed in benefits,” Jonke said.
Under the current contract, the annual salary for a firefighter is $66,568. It was supposed to increase by 4 percent, to $69,231, in 2010 and another 3.8 percent in 2011 to $71,862.
In late July, Denver approached the union about making more concessions. After nearly a month of negotiations, union leaders agreed to $7 million more in cuts for 2010 and 2011, for a total of $8.4 million.
“While our firefighters are feeling the pain of the recession along with the rest of the community, we believe that peresonally sacrificing nearly $10,000 per firefighter between 2009 and 2011 will best allow us to protect the community and keep firefighters where they belong — in firehouses saving lives and responding to emergencies,” Jonke said.
He also said that Denver firefighters agreed in 2003 to $4 million in salary and benefits concessions.
“Local 858 has supported these concessions in the past because firefighters value their role in being an instrumental part of the community, and know that keeping all the firehouses open will preserve public safety and keep firefighters a little safer in an already dangerous profession.”
Unlike other departments, Denver Fire can’t realize savings through not filling vacant positions.
“We have to have full personnel on our apparatus,” Jonke said. “We can’t cut back hours because we’re a 24/7 service.”
Denver Fire has not had any staff increases since the 1970s. “We have to do more with less,” Jonke said.
Mayor John Hickenlooper praised the tentative agreement Thursday.
“Denver Firefighters Local 858 has once again stepped up and helped the city deal with the current fiscal crisis,” he said in a statement released Thursday. “We appreciate the union’s efforts to partner with the city in finding ways to cut $120 million from the budget. This agreement will help us avoid layoffs among firefighters. We recognize the hardship this agreement may put on firefighters and their families, and we are grateful for the public service firefighters provide to our community.”
Members of Local 858 will vote on the contract changes next Tuesday and Wednesday. Jonke said that if the membership doesn’t approve the agreement, it would be up to the city to decide what to do with the department.
“We are not making any concessions in 2012,” he said. “If there will be additional cuts to the fire department, they will be looking at different things.”
concessions, contract, Denver Firefighters Local 858, john hickenlooper, raises
