The city of El Paso and the firefighters’ union made progress on portions of a new labor contract Monday but remained divided on costly pay and benefits proposals as negotiations continue ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline.
City leaders accepted, rejected or counteroffered multiple proposals during the latest bargaining session, leaving unresolved a gap of tens of millions of dollars. The union is seeking about $66 million in pay and benefit increases over four years, while the city’s offer would cost about $38 million — a difference with implications for both firefighters and taxpayers.
“We could have been done with the full thing on the first day if they (the city) just said yes to everything, but of course that’s not very realistic,” Jay Nicholson, union president, told El Paso Matters.
Nicholson said they are about 75% into the negotiation process, but still need to work on key areas such as pay and insurance…