Fire contract talks stall again; city negotiators want to bring in a mediator

– When the negotiating teams for the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association met for the first time in February, they were optimistic.

“You’ve seen firefighters and paramedics concede on many things, and we’ve seen the city concede on nothing, so that’s pretty much a ‘take it or leave it’ approach. I don’t even know how useful mediation would be at this point, because they absolutely refuse to make any concessions,” SAPFFA President Joe Jones told KSAT after Friday’s bargaining session.

Deputy City Manager Maria Villagomez, who leads the city’s negotiating team, similarly called their relationship with the union “strong.” She described bringing in a neutral mediator to lead the talks as “another tool that we have in our toolbox to be able to arrive to an agreement.” The city and union unsuccessfully tried mediation during negotiations for the current fire contract, which runs through December. However, the union ended upUnlike a mediator, an arbitrator does have the power to force a deal on both sides, which is what a three-member arbitration panel did in

During the negotiations, the union polled its membership and found most don’t think they’re paid fairly or feel valued.

SAPFFA City Hall Collective Bargaining Firefighters

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