Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration will borrow $166 million and repay that money over three years to bankroll four years in retroactive pay for 4,800 firefighters and paramedics whose contract was ratified Thursday.
Pat Cleary, president of the Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2, was relieved by the nearly unanimous City Council vote to ratify the six-year contract.
But Cleary accused Johnson of slow-walking negotiations with Local 2 to avoid shelling out back pay.
“I don’t like the process. They were stalling. They came unprepared. It’s unprofessional the way they handled us. It showed that they did not appreciate us,” Cleary said after the vote.
Asked what he believes Johnson’s motivation was for “stalling,” Cleary said, “To spend that money elsewhere.”
Three alderpersons — Anthony Beale (9th), Marty Quinn (13th) and Matt O’Shea (19th) — accused Johnson of deceiving the City Council about the source of the retroactive pay before unilaterally authorizing a large loan that should only be approved by the City Council.
“You lied to us and told us the money was there, and now, it’s not. So, now you want to borrow it? This is ridiculous,” Beale said.
The mayor’s budget director, Annette Guzman, said the money to cover firefighter back pay was, in fact, “in the budget for the last three years.” But Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski said when health care costs skyrocketed by $118 million in just one year and City Hall’s shortfall ballooned to $1.15 billion, there were “some difficult decisions” that had to be made.
“The one that we decided to finance were the ones that were extraordinary and one-time in nature, of which retros are,” Jaworski said during a budget briefing this week.
The Johnson administration similarly plans a five-year loan to cover “extraordinary settlements” tied to allegations of police wrongdoing, including the $90 million “global settlement” that will put to rest 176 lawsuits tied to former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts, who was accused of framing hundreds of people on drug charges at the Chicago Housing Authority’s Ida B. Wells housing complex.
On Thursday, the City Council approved two more settlements — for a combined $15.5 million — to compensate two families who lost relatives because of alleged mistakes made by first responders.
Senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee said Cleary’s claim that the mayor stalled negotiations on a new firefighters contract to avoid paying the large expenditure for back pay was not accurate.
Lee said Johnson wanted to resolve the issue, but “the union famously said they wanted to wait until the end of the negotiations at CPS [Chicago Public Schools] before they get in their negotiations because they wanted to peg their wages to whatever the teachers got.”
The retroactive pay must be delivered to firefighters and paramedics no later than Dec. 30.
The six-year contract includes none of the cost-cutting concessions that Johnson and his two predecessors talked about but never really pursued. It includes pay raises of up to 20%, depending on the rate of inflation, and a $2,500 cash bonus to match increases awarded to rank-and-file Chicago police officers.
Merit promotions that account for up to 16% of all promotions will be eliminated. From now on, vacancies “shall be filled in order of rank on eligibility lists,” the agreement states. Promotional exams will now be required every four years with a mandate that the city provide copies of answer sheets to test takers after written exams “upon departure from test sites.”
Paid parental leave of up to 12 weeks will be provided for all firefighters and paramedics, whether they are the “birthing or non-birthing parent.”
Juneteenth will become a 14th paid holiday. And the contract will eliminate all references to affirmative action and what’s known as Appendix “G” that established as a goal the hiring of 45% minorities and women at all ranks. Instead, the new contract refers to “equity” and commits the Chicago Fire Department to “actively advertise for recruits in socio-economically disadvantaged areas.” The goal is the “elimination of obstacles unrelated to the job that hinder inclusion of communities historically under-represented” in the fire department.
Also Thursday, a letter from the mayor was read into the City Council record declaring Johnson’s intention not to reappoint Inspector General Deborah Witzburg, thus launching the nationwide search for a new inspector general.
Witzburg, who has been at loggerheads with the mayor’s office on a host of investigation-related issues, announced months ago that she would not seek another term.