By Riley Bunch
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — 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.
“To say that we’re not competitive when their salaries are now, indeed, higher than everybody else in the metro area and everybody else in the state of Georgia, is a lie and it’s categorically false,” the mayor said.
But the mayor’s comments were followed by members of the fire department who said that they’re struggling to get by financially and don’t anticipate the bump from the pay study to make a significant difference.
Brian Kittrell, an Atlanta firefighter and paramedic, said that between the pay bumps the city is giving to all employees over the next two years, he anticipates making only about $100 more each paycheck.
“I’ve got four kids, I have to work overtime or a part-time job in order to provide for my family,” he said.
Kittrell said it’s not uncommon for the busy fire station he works at to operate 24 hours a day — flooded with a variety of calls from car accidents and building fires to medical emergencies.
“As (pay) stands, it is hard for me to keep my younger members here — it’s hard for me to keep myself here a lot of days,” he told city council members. “If there’s anything more that you can do, we would greatly appreciate it.”
©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Visit at ajc.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
