ASHEVILLE – Standing on a low, concrete wall at a lively May Day labor rights rally in Pack Square Plaza, Asheville Fire Capt. Welcker Taylor gave a variation on a speech he’s been practicing a lot lately.
City firefighters are advocating for higher pay, echoing calls from a similar 2021 movement that eventually brought new Asheville firefighters from hourly rates of $11.65 to $15.
“I know they don’t like to hear this but hour-for-hour, an Asheville firefighter, a new one, is the lowest paid person in this city,” Taylor, president of the Asheville Fire Fighters Association, told the Citizen Times in April.
The annual starting salary for an Asheville firefighter, after graduation from the academy, is $46,256. For a typical 40-hour work week, that’s above the city’s living wage rate set by WNC Just Economics. But firefighters work 24-hour shifts in a 56-hour work week.
That comes out to $15.88 an hour.
As the city plans to bring all other employees up to $19 an hour in its fiscal year 2025 budget, firefighters like Taylor fear they are being left behind.