The firefighters want a raise
So will they support the TRE?
Bob Nicks, president of the Austin Firefighters Association, sounds cautiously optimistic about the "conceptual" contract city management has proposed to his members.
Nicks insists that it is inaccurate to describe it as a "tentative contract," since the city has yet to submit a written agreement, but he is encouraged by what the city negotiators have publicly said they are willing to offer.
The city's proposal would give most firefighters a 4.2% pay increase in the first year of the contract (FY 26), while pay for entry-level employees would rise 5.5%. Pay would rise 3%, 3.5%, and 4% in the following three years.
So it would raise pay for most firefighters by 15.4% over four years.
Not bad, but a far cry from the 26% hike that cops got in the first four years of the five-year contract that Council approved last year.
