Beaumont, firefighters reach tentative deals on holidays, pension and job-title wording; key pay and benefits remain unresolved

Beaumont and representatives of the Beaumont firefighters’ bargaining unit met in a mediated negotiation session where the parties reached tentative agreements on two contract items and on a housekeeping change to job‑title language, but left major pay and benefits questions unresolved.

The mediator convened the bargaining session during a scheduled mediation and caucus process; negotiators said they would reconvene to continue talks. The city and union tentatively agreed to Articles 13 (vacations and holidays) and Article 15 (pension), with the city stating, “the pension contribution shall not be subject to contract negotiations,” and those items recorded as tentatively agreed for incorporation in the draft contract.

Why it matters: The unresolved items include the union’s request for higher education and certification pay for EMTs and paramedics, a multi‑year wage proposal from the union, and a debated contractual definition of “benefit.” Those topics affect department staffing, recurring payroll costs and whether some management decisions will be subject to grievance/arbitration.

What was agreed

- Articles 13 and 15: Negotiators confirmed a tentative agreement on vacations/holidays and pension language. The city representative said, “the pension contribution shall not be subject to contract negotiations,” and parties recorded the tentative agreement for those articles.

- Definitions / job‑title wording: Bargainers agreed to strike the term “fire suppression” from the contract definitions and replace it with “operations personnel.” Parties also agreed to update references in the basic pay and hours/overtime sections (identified in negotiation as Article 16 and Article 23) to match the new wording; those changes were characterized as housekeeping and will be edited into the draft.

- Random testing appendix: The parties agreed to adopt the El Paso random drug‑testing policy as an appendix/appendix G (to be edited for Beaumont), with the city offering to prepare a cleaned, Beaumont‑specific version for insertion into the contract.

Agreements recorded as tentative or to be appended were described on the record as subject to final editing and incorporation during the parties’ final run‑through of the full draft.

Open or unresolved topics

- Definition of “benefit” and maintenance of standards: The union asked to strike the contract definition of benefit and leave maintenance‑of‑standards language unchanged; the city sought a narrow definition tied to State statute (referred to in talks as Chapter 174) so parties would have a shared understanding about what items are grievable. Negotiators did not reach agreement; both sides agreed to continue discussing those provisions in caucus.

- Department committees / health and safety committee pay: The union pressed to retain overtime compensation for union members who attend department committee (health/safety) meetings while off duty, saying this involves only three members meeting roughly once a month. The city said committee attendees are often on duty and therefore on regular pay, and questioned paying overtime when the union controls who it designates; no agreement was reached.

- Additional pay (education/certification; EMS pay): The union proposed increasing monthly certification pay (examples given: EMT‑level increments and a $600/month paramedic premium) and provided multi‑year cost estimates. The city signaled willingness to consider education and certification pay but said accepting both would reduce the union’s proposed wage increases by about 2 percent; the parties did not finalize numbers and asked the city finance staff to produce counters.

- Wages (wage table): The union presented a multi‑year wage offer that front‑loads smaller increases (reported as 4%/4% early years and 7%/7% later years) and said it reflected prior departmental budgeting assumptions. The city responded that no specific line item for these raises was included in the adopted municipal budget and that council would need to approve any budget amendment. City negotiators said they would caucus and return with a counter offer.

- Assistant chief appointment vs. testing: The city proposed leaving the assistant chief as an appointed position while adding objective qualifications taken from the job description as eligibility criteria; negotiators recorded agreement to that approach (appointment retained with added qualifications).

Other process or follow‑up items

- The city offered a training‑reimbursement agreement tied to its Tuition Reimbursement Policy (Policy 3.1) for paramedic training; the city will email or place the proposed agreement on the shared drive as an addendum for the union’s review.

- The parties caucused during the session and agreed to reconvene later (the mediator noted plans to meet back the same day or the next morning), with the city indicating it would prepare revised wage and financial tables and the union preparing any counters.

Ending: Negotiators described the session as productive on several narrow points but incomplete on major economic and scope items. They left the bargaining table with tentative agreement on holidays/pension and the definitions change, and with clear next steps for the city to produce a wage counter, an edited random‑testing appendix, and a training‑reimbursement addendum for the paramedic proposal.