ROCK SPRINGS – By a unanimous vote, the Rock Springs City Council adopted by resolution a 2016-2018 Collective Labor Agreement with the Rock Springs Firefighters IAFF Local 1499 Tuesday night.
“We are pleased with this year’s negotiating process and its outcome,” President of the IAFF Local 1499 Dominic Erramouspe said in a release. “In light of prevailing economic conditions in the city, county, and state, we tailored our contract proposals to be cost-neutral to cost-saving, with the exception of one provision.”
That single provision would move firefighters with seven years of service in their current capacity to the top of their wage band. Four firefighters are affected by this clause during the next two years. Otherwise, there is no cost of living adjustment and no lateral range movement for the rest of the firefighters.
After the vote, Rock Springs Mayor Carl Demshar publicly thanked the negotiating team and Erramouspe for their professionalism during this year’s negotiations. Demshar said he appreciated that the Local 1499 came to the table understanding the tight budget situation.
The remaining proposals incorporated into the new agreement, effective July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2018, are mostly minor administrative corrections or adjustments.
They include provisions to purchase uniform clothing not classified as “fire retardant,” an allowance to carry-over up 23 hours of physical fitness floating time into the next fiscal year, and a plan to consider changing our work schedule to a 48-hour-on / 96-hour-off duty rotation.
A committee comprised of two 1499 members, two Rock Springs City Council members,two Finance Department representatives, the Fire Chief, and the Human Resources Director will further study the feasibility of adopting the new work schedule.
If approved by the committee, the 48/96 schedule will begin on Jan. 1, 2017, with a one-year trial period to determine if it is the right schedule, at the right time, to better serve the needs of our community.
