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Abilene firefighters urge council to honor pay commitments as negotiations near deadline
Summary
Union leaders and firefighters urged the Abilene City Council to preserve a 10-city pay benchmark and avoid rollback at an April 1 meet-and-confer deadline, saying delays and selective use of data threaten retention and recruitment.
Public speakers at the Abilene City Council meeting pressed elected officials to honor previously negotiated firefighter pay commitments and to allow contract negotiations to continue without reverting to an older pay scale.
"We're not asking for anything extra. We're asking that commitments be honored," Colton Black, vice president of the Abilene Professional Firefighters Association, told the council, tracing a timeline of stalled talks that began in spring 2025 and noting an April 1 deadline that he said could revert pay scales if no agreement is reached.
Union president Jared Crockett said the department has used a 10-city average benchmark for the last six years to keep wages competitive. "Competitive pay is not just about compensation. It's about retention. It's about recruitment," Crockett said, warning that rollbacks would harm the department's ability to recruit and retain firefighters.
Michael Glenn, 11th District vice president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, criticized selective comparisons used in negotiation materials. "You can grab and pull from different pieces of CAFRs ... and you make it say what you want it to say," he said, arguing firefighters seek fairness and stability as Abilene grows.
Several residents urged the council to consider an extension or to approve the contract while talks continue; Eric Bings asked the council to approve a contract extension to provide stability for the department. Council members did not respond to the public comments on the dais, and the mayor noted that meet-and-confer matters will be discussed in executive session and are not subject to public debate at the meeting.
What's next: The council recessed into executive session later in the morning and indicated meet-and-confer negotiations would be addressed there; no public vote on firefighter pay took place during open session.
