By Emily Holshouser
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH, Texas — On July 16, after nine months and 15 bargaining sessions, the union representing Fort Worth firefighters announced an impasse with the city over “critical safety issues” and a failure to negotiate in good faith.
The city, according to a press release, offered the Fort Worth Professional Firefighters Association a contract with $40 million in new investments that included a 20% salary increase over four years and changes to the department’s staffing and benefits.
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That proposal, said firefighters association president Zac Shaffer, would save the city money — at the expense of public safety.
The city’s proposal would lower the number of firefighters on a truck from four to three for 10 hours per day, which is below the number recommended by the National Fire Protection Association.
“Effective extinguishment and rescue are 100% incumbent on having the right number of people on scene,” Shaffer said.
According to the city, the union has proposed an approximately $152 million contract with requests for additional staffing and benefits that would “significantly increase costs” ahead of an expected budget shortfall in 2027.
“We’re running EMT care where we need paramedic care because we have a shortage of medics,” Shaffer said. “In recruitment and retention at the paramedic level, we’re struggling mightily,” Shaffer said. “What that does is lead to a reduction in the level of care for citizens.”
Paramedics undergo significantly more training than EMTs, and can care for a wider variety of patients.
The city said claims that the new contract would impact public safety are “not supported by the facts.”
The city said it has reduced some EMS response times from 11 minutes and 39 seconds to 8 minutes and 36 seconds. But, Shaffer said, the salary offerings and current conditions have prompted many employees to leave the department.
“Every time Fort Worth loses an experienced firefighter to another department, our community loses valuable experience, and taxpayers lose the investment they made in recruiting and training that individual.” Shaffer wrote in a press release. “Fort Worth should be a destination for professional firefighters, not a steppingstone to another city.”
The union’s contract expires in September, Shaffer said. If the impasse does not end before then, the union will keep the current contract until 2027 — but employees would no longer receive wage increases other than those earned for additional years of service.
The city has requested another bargaining meeting, Shaffer told the Star-Telegram, but the union has taken the stance that more meetings would not be productive without the city offering a “reasonable attitude and offer in the interest of bargaining in good faith that does not jeopardize service delivery for Fort Worth Fire and EMS.”
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