MAYOR BROWN ANNOUNCES CONTRACT AGREEMENT WITH BUFFALO FIREFIGHTERS

 

BUFFALO – Following several months of negotiations, Mayor Byron W. Brown today announced that the City of Buffalo has reached a tentative agreement with the Buffalo Professional Firefighters Association, I.A.F.F., Local 282. The Mayor is seeking Buffalo Common Council approval of the agreement tomorrow and a vote of the BFSA on January 31, 2007.

 

Mayor Brown noted that city negotiators maintained an effort to obtain a comprehensive legally binding employment contract that will best protect the interests of the City of Buffalo, adding that no contract between the City and the firefighters had been in place since 2002. The parties have executed a comprehensive agreement that will be delivered to the body of the Buffalo Professional Firefighters Union for consideration and ratification. 

 

“This is a significant breakthrough that comes as a result of good-faith negotiations between both parties,” said Mayor Brown. “From the time that I announced my candidacy for Mayor of Buffalo, I maintained that lifting the wage freeze for city employees would be a priority of my Administration. Now, one year into my term, we have an agreement that will set the standard for achieving that goal for all city employees. I commend the negotiators for both sides on maintaining an open and honest dialog that helped bring about this great achievement.”

 

The five-year contract includes a $5,000 increase to base salary with annual 3.4%raises. 

 

“These were intense negotiations between both parties and I fully believe that this proposed contract is the best the firefighter’s union can receive in the era of the Control Board,” said Joseph Foley, president of the Buffalo Professional Firefighters Association. “I hope our membership gives full consideration of the benefits of this agreement when it is presented to them.”

 

Mayor Brown noted that the agreement is fiscally sound and ensures that contract savings exceeds contract costs, clearly meeting the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority's (BFSA) criteria for contract approval. While it does contain wage increases, those increases, when combined with other employee benefit changes, assures the long-term fiscal stability of the City. Specifically, the proposed health care provisions will permanently reduce health care costs to the City. The contract proposal addresses hours of work, vacation entitlements, residency and other amendments designed to reduce other compensation costs to the City. 

  

In a correspondence to the Control Board Mayor Brown stated, “Your approval of this agreement will yield many benefits, including, but not limited to, savings for the City of Buffalo, a more productive and cooperative work relationship between the City and its Firefighters, eliminating liability for the restructuring of the Fire Department and providing for the exercise of significant management rights.”

 

“This contract represents the fairest offer that the City can give the firefighters in light of the great and dangerous work they perform every day,” said Fire Commissioner Michael Lombardo. “As a 24-year member of the Buffalo Fire Department, I believe that this process included great give and take between both sides and that the result reflects what is in the best interests of the City and the brave men and women of the Buffalo Fire Department This allows us to continue to protect and serve the residents of the City.”

 

“After five years of no contract with the Buffalo firefighters, this agreement is good news for the rank and file of the Fire Department, as well as the citizens of the City who depend on their excellent services at a reasonable cost,” said Buffalo Common Council Majority Leader Nick Bonifacio.