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Committee hears firefighter MOUs with overtime, wellness and reserve details; items sent to Aug. 7 meeting
Summary
The Government Audits and Oversight Committee reviewed two memoranda of understanding with the San Francisco Firefighters Union Local 798 covering Units 1 and 2, focusing on overtime changes (straight-time threshold extended to 10 hours), limited premium increases, wellness eligibility changes and MOU reserve sufficiency; the committee referred the items to the Aug. 7 meeting without a recorded vote.
The Government Audits and Oversight Committee on a special meeting day heard staff and union presentations on two ordinances to adopt memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between the City and County of San Francisco and the San Francisco Firefighters Union Local 798, IAFF (Units 1 and 2), and sent the items to the committee's Aug. 7 meeting for further action.
Deputy city attorney Martin Grand presented the contract highlights, saying the agreements maintain historically aligned entry wages with the police and include "a number of reforms" including finalized substance-abuse testing and changes to advancement criteria. He said the MOUs revise eligibility for a pilot wellness program by requiring "a threshold number of hours worked in the last 2 years of employment" to qualify.
Grand described a key change to overtime pay: under the new terms the number of unscheduled hours paid at straight time when firefighters choose to work overtime was increased from 5 to 10 hours, with a two-week look-back. "The department estimates that the cost savings to that as well as the change in the number of hours that count towards overtime to be about 2% of our payroll," Grand said. "I believe that's about $4,000,000." He also said the contract removes some non-worked hours, including vacation time, from counting toward overtime thresholds.
Ken Bruce, a budget analyst, told the committee wage increases are the primary cost driver and pointed to a listed 1% item effective in July that replaces a prior "terrorism response pay" from the previous contract. A representative from the controller's office (identified in the record as Todd) said the MOU reserve contains sufficient funds to cover the projected costs and described the standard practice of transferring leftover wellness and retirement funds to departments based on actual experience.
Union representative John Hanley asked the supervisors for support during public comment: "the firefighters come to you humbly asking for your support for this contract for Units 1 And 2," he said, and added that Local 798 "has given a considerable amount of concessions to the city to reach a bargaining agreement." Hanley also answered questions about the department's volunteer reserve, saying the reserve element is "under 50 at this time," unpaid, and not covered for disability when they respond from home.
Douglas Yap, an employee at San Francisco General Hospital, urged the committee to review these items in light of "the controversy regarding alcohol use within the San Francisco fire department" and requested audits of certain hospital units be considered for future committee review.
A motion to "approve the item with recommendation" and forward the items to the Tuesday, Aug. 7 meeting was made and the chair announced the order would stand "without objection." The transcript does not record a roll-call vote, a tally, or a second. The committee then adjourned.
What happens next: The MOUs for Units 1 and 2 were placed on the Aug. 7 meeting calendar for further consideration; the record does not show final committee approval or a recorded vote at this special meeting.
