North Las Vegas firefighters sign off on new contract

By Conor Shine

Monday, Feb. 13, 2012 | 6:18 p.m.

The union representing North Las Vegas firefighters and the city have reached a tentative agreement that is projected to save at least $500,000, city officials say.

The new memorandum of understanding, ratified by members of the International Association of Firefighters Local #1607 at their meeting last week, updates the current collective bargaining agreement for both the supervisory and nonsupervisory personnel. If approved by the North Las Vegas City Council at its Wednesday meeting, the agreement would give the city’s fire chief more control over scheduling and operations, which is expected to cut overtime and save the city money.

“As part of the new tentative agreement, they’re basically giving the city more operational flexibility,” city spokeswoman Juliet Casey said. “Being able to control staffing patterns better will ultimately save money.”

If the agreement is approved, the chief will have more discretion in the use of brownouts, the staffing of the air resource unit and restricting the number of battalion chiefs on annual leave at any given time, according to a statement from the city.

Messages left for the union were not immediately returned Monday afternoon.

The new deal will update concessions made by the union in July, in which members took a 5 percent cut in base pay to avoid layoffs while the city struggled to close a budget deficit.

That six-month deal expired Jan. 31 and the new tentative agreement will last another six months, until June 30, at which point another deal will have to be negotiated, Casey said.

As part of the deal, the 5 percent cut will be restored, but Casey stressed that the deal was not a compensation increase for firefighters and that more than $500,000 still would be saved.

The union also agreed to dismiss a pending arbitration case against the city involving insurance coverage as part of the agreement.