Chicago firefighters and paramedics have waited three years and seven months for a new contract, but the marathon stalemate may be nearing its end.
Negotiations are scheduled to resume Thursday on a new city proposal. The apparent breakthrough started with a text message from Mayor Brandon Johnson to Pat Cleary, president of the Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2.
That text camenot long afterCleary’s members responded to a Dec. 12 fire that started in a records storage area of Cook County Building. Knowing the fire had forced evacuation of the City Council chambers during a Council meeting, Cleary raced over to City Hall and used the opportunity to beat the media drum for a new contract.
He got the mayor’s attention.
“He texted, ‘Yo! It’s Brandon. Give me a call.’ So, I called him,” Cleary said Wednesday.
“He said, ‘How’s negotiations going?’ And I said, ‘What do you mean? It’s not going.’ I told him about the last time we had negotiations. The city was completely unprepared and had nothing to discuss. They had no authority to vote on anything. It was a complete waste of time.”
Johnson promised to direct his negotiating team to expedite negotiations, telling Cleary he “wants them to get it done.”
“Maybe he’s trying to make friends,” Cleary said.
Asked what it will take to bring negotiations to a close, Cleary said: “Don’t give me what I could have gotten three-and-a-half years ago: an average, b.s. contract. Give me a good contract. Reward us for waiting so long.”
Johnson directed his negotiating team to draft a substantive proposal on the outstanding issues of pay, benefits, staffing and equipment.
Cleary wouldn’t reveal details of that latest proposal, which will be the subject of this week’s talks. The goal is to narrow to a handful the number of outstanding issues that must be decided by an independent arbitrator.
Cleary made clear he would not settle for less than 20 more ambulances — in addition to the 80 currently on the street — and the paramedics to staff them.
Local 2 also demands a “cycle” of annual equipment purchases, including at least 10 engines, seven trucks and six to eight ambulances.
“Rigs are deplorable. We’ve had days when an engine or a truck broke down and they did not have a back-up engine or truck to give us. So those guys sat in the firehouse and did nothing all day and you pay for it,” Cleary said. “If there was a fire in that area, that engine did not go out because there was no engine.”
Yet another thorny issue is the minimum staffing clause that triggered the 1980 firefighters strike. It requires each piece of fire apparatus to operated at least five employees, with some exceptions.
The Johnson administration initially sought cost-cutting reduction that would double those daily exceptions from 35 to nearly 70.
Cleary wants to eliminate variances altogether.
Local 2 is also demanding elimination of all merit promotions with promotional testing for all ranks every four-to-five years — though according to Cleary, that issue already has been decided.
“You get promoted based upon your test score. Either you score high or you don’t get promoted,” he said. “It should have been called `merit-less’ promotions because it had nothing to do with merit. It had to do with favoritism and patronage. … People would get promoted ahead of me even though I scored 20 points ahead of them.”
Jim Franczek, the city’s longtime chief labor negotiator, did not return phone calls.
The pay and benefits issue has not yet been decided.
Firefighters have a “me too” clause that guarantees them a pay raise “at least” as good as the pay raise for Chicago police officers — and Johnson doubled the percent raise for CPD officers from 2.5% to 5% in 2024 and 2025.
During the two-year extension ending June 30, 2027, police officers will receive annual raises in the 3% to 5% range, depending on the cost of living.