Politics
Key City Panel Endorses Proposed Firefighters Union Contract
(Wirestock / iStock)
A key Chicago City Council committee on Tuesday unanimously endorsed a proposed six-year deal with the city’s firefighters union that would give the city’s nearly 4,900 firefighters and paramedics annual average raises of approximately 3% — but puts off fraught negotiations over how fire stations should be staffed and whether the city needs more ambulances.
Chicago firefighters and paramedics — who are prohibited from striking — have been working under the terms of a contract that took effect in 2017 and expired in 2021. The proposed contract would expire June 30, 2027, shortly after the mayor and City Council members start new terms, records show.
Members of the Chicago Fire Department will get $185 million in retroactive pay in 2026, an amount included in the city’s budget projections for 2026, said Ald. Mike Rodriguez (22nd Ward), chair of the Workforce Development Committee, which sent the proposed contract to the full City Council for a final vote on the deal Oct. 16.
Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 ratified the tentative agreement with 73% of the vote, said union President Pat Cleary.
“It is a fair contract,” Cleary said. “We fought hard with the city, the city fought hard with us and came to an agreement.”
Cicely Porter-Adams, the chief labor negotiator for the city, said the agreement represented the “best deal possible.”
Read the full proposed contract.
The proposed deal would mean salaries for firefighters and paramedics will rise by at least 21%, but no more than 25% depending on the increase in the cost of living, during the life of the agreement.
The deal calls for employees to get a $2,500 signing bonus once the deal is approved, records show.
That is line with an agreement reached by Mayor Brandon Johnson in 2023 with the city’s largest police union.
The proposed deal changes the department’s mandatory retirement age from 63 to 65, records show. That is also in line with the mandatory retirement age for Chicago police officers, which was changed last year.
The deal calls for firefighters who retire before they turn 63 to pay more toward their health care, according to the deal.
The deal does not change a rule that requires every engine and truck to be staffed by at least five employees, even as two-thirds of the calls for help the department responds to are for medical emergencies, not fires.
Instead, a committee has until July to study the issue and reach an agreement. If that fails, a “neutral fact-finder” will issue an advisory opinion.
The proposed contract also eliminates all references to affirmative action to “comply with federal law,” Porter-Adams said.
The Chicago Fire Department, which is 90% male and 60% White, has been sued many times by prospective, current and former members alleging they were subjected to discrimination and sexual harassment while in uniform.
Approximately 11% of firefighters and paramedics are Black, and another 21% are Latino, according to data published by the Office of the Inspector General. The city’s population is approximately one-third White, one-third Black and one-third Latino, according to census figures.
The proposed deal instead includes promises department leaders will “actively advertise for recruits in socio-economically disadvantaged areas” and eliminate “obstacles unrelated to the job that hinder inclusion of communities historically underrepresented” in the fire department.
The Trump administration has targeted all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as unlawful, and the U.S. Supreme Court has severely restricted the ability of municipalities and schools to use affirmative action when making decisions.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
