The first full-time firefighters in the Morton Fire Department's nearly 150-year history have a contract with the village.
The 19 members of Morton Fire & EMS Local 4952 of the International Association of Firefighters [IAFF], consisting of seven full-time firefighters and a dozen full-time paramedics, unanimously ratified the five-year contract last week.
The Morton Village Board unanimously approved the agreement Oct. 6.
Negotiators for both sides praised the speed of the talks considering the inherent complexities in a contact for firefighters and paramedics, and the new language needed in Morton's contact because it replaces a previous five-year agreement for the paramedics.
Printed out, the new contract is a few hundred pages long.
"It was like taking two contracts and putting them together," said local union president Kris Ambrosia. "We started talking in mid-March. I thought negotiations would go on for more than a year. We really appreciate the village's willingness to work with us."
"It was a big production that required a significant expenditure of time and effort," said Village Attorney Pat McGrath. "I was pleasantly surprised to get an agreement as quickly as we did."
The contact is retroactive to May 1. Union members will receive a 3.75% pay increase in the first year of the agreement, and 3.5% raises in each of the next four years.
Additional contract language establishing rank structure will be brought forward as a side letter in the next several weeks. No snags are expected to those talks.
The Morton Fire Department formerly had only volunteer firefighters. The full-time firefighters were hired early this year.
Volunteers are serving alongside the full-time firefighters.
Village officials estimate the village will spend about $1 million annually for the full-time firefighters.
