La Marque negotiators reach tentative agreement with fire union on pay and benefits

La Marque city negotiators and representatives of the fire department union reached a tentative agreement on economic terms that the parties said they will present to the union membership and then to the City Council for final approval.

The agreement as described in the session includes a 7% cost-of-living adjustment spread over three years, specific certification pay increases for selected firefighter credentials, a $300 residency stipend, a $200 annual boot allowance, the elimination of the Kelly day, and a proposed shift-start change from 7 a.m. to 6 a.m. The city also agreed to include Juneteenth and Veterans Day in the union contract and to add EMS personnel and the deputy fire marshal position to the bargaining unit.

City negotiators outlined specific certification-pay amounts: Fire Officer I and II certification pay will not be paid by the city; Fire Officer III is listed at $25 and Fire Officer IV at $50; Instructor II would receive $25 and a listed certification at the higher level (Constructor III) would receive $50. The city proposed a $50 certification pay for Hazmat Technician and $75 for Hazmat Incident Commander. Negotiators said the paramedic and building inspector pay increases in the union proposal were acceptable. Several certifications that the city initially declined to pay for included the TCO certification and CPR instructor pay.

Union representatives requested that TCO certification pay be provided for personnel assigned to the fire marshal's office and said the request concerned two positions in that office. City negotiators said they were not prepared to provide the TCO certification pay as proposed but offered a compromise to pay two hours of on-call pay per day on weekends for the fire marshal who is on call; union members present accepted the overall tentative package and asked the city to prepare redline documents for review.

City negotiators said the 7% COLA will be applied year by year (for example, 2% in year one applied to year-one pay, then another 2% applied to the new pay in year two). The city also said unspent boot allowances would go to the quartermaster. The parties agreed to a process: the city will prepare the redline of the tentative agreement, the union will review it, and city staff will place the item before the City Council for consideration; negotiators noted the next council opportunity was the second Monday in September and that, if approved, the contract changes would start in October.

Chief David Merriman praised the working relationship between union and city negotiators during the session, saying the cooperation exceeded prior experiences. City and union members characterized the session as a collaborative negotiation rather than an adversarial exchange.

The agreement at this stage is tentative: it must be approved by the union membership (per the union’s internal process) and formally adopted by the La Marque City Council before any changes take effect.