La Marque firefighters present multiyear pay and operations proposal, raise hazmat readiness concerns

La Marque and representatives of Local 3282 of the International Association of Fire Fighters began collective bargaining April 22 in City Council Chambers, where the union presented a multi-part proposal that would raise pay and certification incentives, change shift schedules and push for expanded training and equipment to address hazardous-materials risks.

The proposal, presented by Cody Chandler, president of Local 3282, asked the city to adopt a 7% across-the-board pay increase phased over three years (2% in 2026, 2% in 2027 and 3% in 2028) and to raise or add a range of certification-pay incentives including paramedic pay, officer- and instructor-certification incentives and hazmat and arson investigator pay. "A lot of the ask that are in this packet, as far as the certification pays, the certification pays have not been adjusted since, I wanna say, 02/2012," Chandler said. He also proposed adding Juneteenth and Veterans Day to the department's holiday bank and increasing the boot reimbursement.

Why it matters: the package combines immediate compensation requests with steps the union says would improve departmental training and public safety. The union argued higher incentive pay would encourage paramedic certification and other qualifications that reduce overtime and sick-time usage and improve service quality. "This is just to stay current with the Cost of living," Chandler said of the multiyear pay request.

Key elements of the union's proposal discussed on the record included: - Compensation: a 7% total salary increase over three years (2%/2%/3%), and increased certification and officer/instructor incentive pay;…