La Marque and IAFF Local 3282 open talks on pay, schedule, certifications and gear

City of La Marque officials and representatives of IAFF Local 3282 met April 22 in the Council Chambers to open collective bargaining on a range of pay, scheduling, training and equipment issues.

The meeting — attended by Mayor Keith Bell; JB Pritchett, interim city manager and lead negotiator for the city; outside counsel Gus Knaebel; and union representatives Cody Chandler (president), Isaiah Reyes (vice president) and Jody Martinez — covered a 7% wage proposal spread over three years, a proposed shift change to a 48/96 rotation, requests to update long-unchanged certification pay, and increases to equipment and training allowances. No formal motions or votes were taken.

The negotiations matter to residents because they concern firefighter staffing, training and response capability. Union leaders argued the package would improve retention and on-the-job skills; city staff said they would review the union’s written proposal and schedule follow-up bargaining sessions.

Union president Cody Chandler summarized the union’s packet and identified several core requests: raising certification pay levels that have not been updated since February 2012 (the paramedic certification pay was cited at $500), adding new incentive pay for certifications such as hazardous materials technicians and…