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Firefighters union says Atlanta city council altered pay study and reduced raises

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Published  September 3, 2024 5:28pm EDT
Atlanta
FOX 5 Atlanta

Fire union says city altered pay study and reduced raises

Some Atlanta firefighters are accusing the city of bait and switch. They say the city promised them competitive raises, but later altered a pay study and are now cutting the pay increases in half. FOX 5's Aungelique Proctor has the story.

ATLANTA - Atlanta firefighters say they are loyal and have gotten the work done for the City of Atlanta no matter the obstacles. That is the primary reason they consider a 2% pay raise a real gut punch.

"It's a bummer. It's definitely hurt morale. Our firefighters, they give every ounce they have to the city, everyday," said Atlanta Professional Firefighters Union President Nate Bailey.

Atlanta's firefighters say they have done the work and were expecting to get a significant and competitive pay bump after the city hired Mercer LLC, an outside company, to do a pay study. The union claims the city didn't like the initial results.

"The initial cost for our pay study, when it was accurate, was around $8.6 million, but two weeks after the city received the calls from the Mercer group, they recommended pulling four of the highest paying cities out of our peer group and dropped the cost way down to $3. 7 million", Bailey said.

Records show the city requested Mercer, LLC to remove four cities from the study, for a fee of $15,000, which was approved by city council in May in an amendment. The cities removed were Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York.

"You cannot alter the data after you get the cost back from the company that you contracted with. You cannot do that. You cannot start pulling cities out just to lower the cost," the union president insisted.

Bailey says the lower raises have tanked morale in the department.

The city's proposal does include raises, but the union says they are below the market rate.

"The chief's pay went up, conveniently, but our sergeants, lieutenants and captains – they got very little, and the only real change for our firefighters was the starting salary," Bailey said.

That starting salary is currently $52,000. Under this new study, that jumps to $58,000.

The union says it is concerned about the rest of the firefighters, like sergeants, lieutenants and captains, who are vested in the city. They went on to say that member of council Andrea Boone sponsored legislation to send the firefighter raises back to the finance committee for review.