Houston firefighters fight for equal pay

In efforts to receive pay equal to Houston police officers, Houston firefighters have turned to the public for support.

In just over a week, the Houston Professional Fire Fighter Association (HPFFA) has received more than 32,000 signatures from Houstonians. These signatures are part of the firefighter pay parity, or equal pay ballot initiative, that will petition the city to allow the public to vote on equal pay by rank for Houston firefighters and police officers.

“We submitted to the city more than 50 percent validated signatures than was necessary to put this on the ballot,” said Patrick “Marty” Lancton, president of the HPFFA at a press conference held July 17. “The election experts tell us that this is one of the most successful and fastest petition drives in Texas history.”

 

Houston Debt

The city of Houston is facing a multi-billion dollar debt crisis. This is a result of the city’s inability to fully fund its pensions, leaving a deficit of $8.2 billion.

The deficit was created by underfunding service pensions, which leaves the city with two options moving forward. One, fund a plan that will raise taxes; two, fund a plan that will allow the city services to go down.

In efforts to help relieve the debt crisis, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner championed Senate Bill (SB) 2190 which was passed May 31. The enactment of SB 2190 was created to help stabilize the three public pensions: police officers, firefighters and municipal employees.

“They said it couldn’t be done, but in Houston, we always get it done” Turner said in a press release May 24. “Houstonians came together and achieved historic pension reform, lifting a significant barrier to progress in our city. Our victory on pension reform is substantial.”  

Turner has had clear intentions to help bring financial peace to Houston dating back to his mayoral candidacy platform. A strong piece of his platform revolved around creating responsible budgets and sound financial management including public pension reform.

Since taking office in January, Turner has worked to reduce the pension debt crisis. SB 2190 passed with a two-thirds majority May 24. The enactment of this bill can help to stabilize the City of Houston’s financial crisis.

 

Pension Cuts

SB 2190, effective July 1, transitions city employees including police officers, firefighters and municipal employees to a cash balance plan. The city received approval from the police department as well as municipal employees, but the fire department has yet to agree to the new plan.

The previous pension plan firefighters received was based on 20 years of service. After 20 years, the individual would receive a pension amount equal to his or her salary amount. The individual would receive one salary amount for themselves and one for his or her spouse.

Each year the firefighter does not retire, his or her pension amount increases by 3 percent.

Police officers operate under a similar pension plan involving 20 years of service. After the 20 year mark, police officers have the option to start the deferred retirement option plan (DROP). This option is where the individual can receive their pension savings from either a locked-in benefit or a sliding average benefit.

As a result of SB 2190‘s enactment, city employees have taken both pay and benefit cuts of $2.5 billion collectively. This decision affects about 5,100 police officers, 4,100 firefighters and 10,800 city municipal employees. Without the passing of SB 2190, the city would have large scale layoffs.

Locally, the University of Houston-Clear Lake police department will remain unaffected by SB 2190.

“SB 2190 effects the Houston Police Department and not the UHCL Police Department,” said Chief of UHCL Police Department Allen Hill. “UHCL Police officers work for the state and not the City of Houston.”

Local firefighters are openly upset about the result of the bill being passed. 

“Houston firefighters are at a breaking point,” Lancton said at a press conference held July 17. “Our fleet and facilities are declining. Our wages, benefits and working conditions are no longer competitive. We are losing firefighters to other departments. We are now asking the voters to help Houston firefighters because the city refuses to do so. The city of Houston has destabilized the wages, benefits, working conditions and retirement security of Houston firefighters.”  

 

Equal Pay & Contracts

The pursuit of equal pay for firefighters and police officers comes from the precedent set by other cities such as Dallas TX.

“There are many precedents set and none more closer to home except the fact that the city of Houston use to have pay parity between the fire and police in the 1970s,” Lancton said. “Conversely, the parity at the time was in reverse; it was the police that were having the struggles that the firefighters are having now.”

In efforts to bring fairness to public service individuals, HPFFA collected more than 52,000 signatures. The HPFFA submitted around 32,000 validated signatures to the city of Houston July 17. Each of the signatures represents Houstonians who support the Houston firefighters pursuit of equal pay.

The equal pay ballot initiative, if approved by voters in November, will result in an amendment to the city charter allowing equal pay between firefighters and police officers according to rank, thus restoring the original pay parity established in the 1970s.

In addition to equal pay, firefighters are seeking a new contract from the city.

Over the past three years, firefighters have been operating under an “evergreen” agreement. This is due to the City of Houston, being unavailable and refusing to negotiate a new contract since 2014. HPFFA has made efforts to negotiate with the city and has been met with inactivity and no forward progress. Lancton said that after multiple failed one sided negotiations and an imposed court mandate, the City unilaterally changed the evergreen contract which went into effect as a city ordinance without negotiation.

As a result, firefighters have received a 3 percent pay raise over the past three years. Within the same time period, the police department received a 26 percent pay raise.

The next steps for the equal pay ballot initiative involve waiting for confirmation from the city secretary. The city secretary’s office must count and verify all 32,000 of the signatures, and then the city council will ask for an election order. After this progress, voters can expect to see the equal pay ballot initiative on the November ticket.

For more information about signing the petition or the vote on firefighters receiving equal pay visit www.letthevotersdecide.us. 

For an additional report on the city debt crisis broken down simply, visit Michael Taylor’s perspective below. www.expressnews.com/business/business_columnists/michael_taylor/article/Houston-s-three-public-pensions-and-why-you-9200928.php