The City of Akron, already in a stalemate over a new police union contract, is also at loggerheads with the firefighters’ union in its contract negotiation.
The Akron Fire Fighters Association announced on Tuesday that its members rejected a report from a mediator tasked with finding a compromise between the union and the City of Akron during collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
Similar to the negotiations between the City of Akron and Fraternal Order of Police, the city claims the firefighters’ stances are not financially achievable, while the firefighters’ union claims the city’s finances are in good shape. It claims the city’s contract stance hinders its ability to retain firefighters.
The 347 firefighter votes — representing 92% of the Akron Fire Fighters Association Local 330 — against the fact-finder’s report sends the dispute to a state board and triggers a process that will take many months to complete.
In May, the City of Akron rejected a fact-finder’s report in its negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police, triggering the same process, and the dispute remains unresolved.
The so-called fact-finder was agreed upon by both sides when the city and the union were at an impasse on wages and benefits. The union members want higher salaries and lower health insurance premiums, while the city wants to give them smaller raises and cover less of their health insurance premiums than it currently covers.
“The City’s increase in member health care cost eats away at recommended wage increases, resulting in an economic package our members have overwhelmingly decided is unacceptable,” the union said in a press release on Tuesday.
A statement attributed to Mayor Shammas Malik on Wednesday said the city values the union members and has attempted “to reach a fair agreement” that supports them while “balancing” responsibilities to other city employees, city services and the budget.
Where the sides stand on the various contractual issues
On wages:
- The union sought a 3% “equity raise” for firefighters and a 6% general raise retroactive to the beginning of the year, plus 6% raises in 2026 and 2027.
- The city offered annual 3% raises.
- The mediator recommended a 5% raise for 2025 and 4.5% raises in 2026 and 2027.
On health insurance premiums:
- The city proposed maintaining employee health insurance premiums at 10% but removing $70 and $180 cost caps for employees, depending on the plan. Firefighters would likely pay $19 more per month for an individual plan and $54 for a family.
- The union opposed changes to how members contribute to health insurance coverage and said the city’s proposal is intended to offset wage increases.
- The mediator said firefighters have “excellent” healthcare benefits and its proposal was “modest.”
The two sides did not agree on:
- The union’s desire for increased pay for working on holidays — the union wants firefighters who work on holidays to earn double their rate of pay, while the city says time-and-a-half remains appropriate.
- When the negotiating period for the next collective bargaining agreement will begin.
- What should happen if the state pension fund for police officers and firefighters stops providing benefits to eligible employees and their families.
- The city’s desire to pay firefighters bi-weekly instead of weekly.
The stalemate sends the collective bargaining agreement to the State Employment Relations Board. The two sides will pitch a “conciliator” that both agree to — the conciliator will make the final decision on the contract terms.
During mediation earlier this year, the union and the city both agreed that the city’s finances are in good shape, the fact-finder wrote, but each side “presented a different picture” about the future.
The City of Akron, the mediator wrote, has a “doomsday vision of revenues.” The city highlighted that significant federal grants are no longer coming in and “projects a downward trend in reserves over the next three years and an accelerated shortfall by 2029.”
The city, according to the report, also said its finances will be even more worse off if the police union is awarded large raises in the conciliation process.
The union said the city’s outlook is good, expecting to see more revenue from income tax and property taxes “due to the robust economic growth the City is experiencing.”
How the fact-finding process works:
The State Employment Relations Board established what is known as the Fact-Finding process for “parties in contract negotiations who are unable to reach agreement and are at an impasse.” That impasse occurred in December, and both sides reached out to the SERB, which provided a list of five “fact finders” from a “roster of neutrals.”
The disagreement over the mediator’s report moves the terms of the CBA through the conciliation process, which is a SERB-based “final offer settlement procedure” for entities still at an impasse after the fact-finding report. A “conciliator” will be chosen from a list given to each side, and each side will submit position papers and present cases at a hearing.
Unlike the fact-finding process where the mediator issues recommendations on each disputed point, the conciliator “must choose on an issue-by-issue basis from each of the party’s final settlement offers.”