La Marque and firefighters continue talks on pay, shifts and benefits; next meeting set for late July

La Marque city officials and representatives of La Marque Professional Firefighters Local 3282 met July 10 in the City Council chambers for their third bargaining session on a proposed collective bargaining agreement. The meeting lasted about 35 minutes and ended with the parties agreeing to reconvene the week of July 28–August 2 to continue negotiations and for the city to run financial numbers.

The two sides spent the session reviewing the union’s list of economic and noneconomic requests. The union proposed an across‑the‑board adjustment to certification pay and the addition of new certification pay categories; a shift schedule change from the current model to a 48/96 rotation with shift-change moved from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.; and a three-year cost-of-living adjustment of 2% in fiscal 2026, 2% in fiscal 2027 and 3% in fiscal 2028 (a cumulative 7% over three years as presented by the union). The city said it was not prepared to make firm financial commitments at this meeting and will confirm the union’s figures with the finance department.

The union also requested that Juneteenth and Veterans Day be added to…