HOUSTON — Houston City Council members received an update on the progress of a settlement and collective bargaining agreement with the Houston Firefighters Union as questions remain about specific details.
The Joint Committee on Budget and Fiscal Affairs and Labor received an update from city finance officials and the Houston Professional Firefighters Association president.
The settlement was announced in March and includes $650 million in backpay going back to 2017, as well as a new collective bargaining agreement for the next five years.
“We have to be able to recruit, retain firefighters,” HPFFA president Patrick “Marty” Lancton told committee members. “And we cannot do that under the current scheme.”
Lancton reaffirmed the union’s position of support for the deal.
“It’s a good deal for the taxpayers and the firefighters,” Lancton told KHOU 11 News after his presentation to council members. “We can close this and we can move forward and we’re excited to be down here and discussing it.”
However, council members are still uncertain about what the final product will be and its potential impact on the city’s financial footing going forward.
“It's very difficult for us to be asking questions when we have not seen a draft of the CBA in its current form,” District C council member Abbie Kamin said. “So all of this is still speculation or going off of what we've heard or seen in, circulating draft copies.”
The city attorney said this week, an updated draft is expected to be sent to the state attorney general, who has to sign off on it before the council can.
Councilmembers also asked other questions about the settlement and CBA, including a proposed removal of random drug testing. The union president told KHOU 11 News that drug testing remains part of the agreement, but there’s an effort to create a more efficient process.
“It doesn't benefit the city financially to do what it's doing,” Lancton said. “So streamlining the process, it's not an elimination of anything, it is intended to say, how can we focus on this best use of it that way the city's not incurring overtime costs, every single day and holding people over.”
If the CBA is ultimately approved on the current timeline, it’s set to go into effect in July.