Oak Lawn and its firefighters have agreed to a new contract after more than a year of negotiations.
The Village Board unanimously approved a four-year collective bargaining agreement retroactive to Jan. 1, 2022.
Village officials and representatives of Oak Lawn Professional Firefighters Association Local 3405 negotiated since November 2021, and came to a tentative agreement in April, Village Manager Thomas Phelan said.
“There were many topics discussed during the negotiations, and multiple different offers and counteroffers over that 15-month period, which were at all times professional and respectful,” Phelan wrote in an email.
The firefighters voted unanimously April 24 in favor of the agreement, which gives them an average of 3.25% raises in each of the four years, said union president Jeff Kane, who is a firefighter-paramedic and engineer. The Village Board approved the agreement May 23.
Kane said the main reason negotiations took so long was scheduling difficulties.
Most of the terms and benefits in the new contract are the same as the old one, which ended Dec. 31, 2021, he said.
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“We were happy with the status quo of the old contract,” Kane said. “From our standpoint, pay raises and the duration of the contract were the most important issues,” he said.
The prior contract was for three years. If the new agreement was not longer, it would expire at the end of 2024, and it soon would be time to start negotiating the next contract, Kane said.
Under the terms of the new contract, the starting annual salary for a firefighter/paramedic as of Jan. 1, 2023 is $80,844, and will rise to $83,520 and $86,232 respectively in 2024 and 2025.
Local 3405 has 71 members, Kane said.
Phelan said the village agreed to wage increases higher than officials wanted, but in return the union agreed to help shore up “deficiencies in our promotional process that will ensure that qualified candidates get promoted.”
Kane said both sides agreed to raise the cutoff grade for passing exams, necessary for promotions to higher ranks.
The agreement guarantees raises of 3.2% or 3.3% each year; however, firefighters and paramedics also get “step” raises after each of their first three years working, then in five-year increments for longevity.
So a firefighter-paramedic whose first-year salary was $78,348 in 2022 will be paid $118,464 three years later if he or she is working for the Oak Lawn Fire Department in 2025, an increase of nearly 51%.
Firefighters’ regular schedule is 24 consecutive hours on duty followed by 48 consecutive hours off duty.
A residency clause requiring firefighters live in Illinois and within 50 miles of Oak Lawn Village Hall was adopted in the prior contract, Kane said.
Kimberly Fornek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.