Some of Atlanta’s firefighters have spent the past few weeks trekking to City Hall to voice concerns over a pay study conducted by the city that they say falls short.
President of Atlanta Professional Firefighters Nate Bailey testified at council that the final results of the pay study — recently approved by the body — were “devastating.” He said under the salary recommendations, most lieutenants would only see a salary increase of about $58 per year.
In an unexpected appearance at the council’s Finance and Executive Committee meeting last Wednesday, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens called the union’s concerns politically motivated.
“Every other union in this city stood behind us when we signed that document, when we signed that company class study into law — except one,” Dickens said.
Union leaders say the officials requested that larger, higher-paying cities be removed from the compensation study, dipping the final salary recommendations for Atlanta’s firefighters. Dickens disagrees and said that places like Los Angeles and New York have much larger populations than Atlanta, which is why they were removed.