With salary negotiations between the firefighters’ union and the town at a standstill for nearly a month, the newly appointed president of the Tiverton firefighter’s union, Lt. Nicholas Barboza, said both sides have agreed to resume talks this week.

Barboza, who has been a Tiverton firefighter for almost five years, is one of the union’s executive board members directly involved in negotiations with the town.

This week, Barboza referenced public comments made in early June by town council president Denise deMedeiros, in which she described the union’s rejection of the town’s offer to increase all non-probationary salaries by 10 percent effective July 1. At the time, deMedeiros said the union demanded a 37 percent increase. What she did not explain, he said, was that the union’s request matched what the town had recently offered probationary firefighters.

“Probationary firefighters were getting $38,000 a year. The town did not negotiate with us, but announced the group would be increased to $52,000. That’s a 37 percent increase.”

Town response

Town administrator Chris Cotta said the union has complained of two issues over the past year – recruitment and retention.

He said the town increased the entry-level salary to $52,000 because of recruitment problems.

“Other communities were getting 30 applicants while Tiverton was lucky to get three. We resolved the recruitment issue by providing this increase.”

Asked about Barboza’s claim that the union had not formally agreed to the probationary increase, Cotta said, “It is my recollection this was discussed at the table but was never adopted.”

“What the IAFF fails to say,” he added, “is that labor negotiations are two ways, as both the union and the town must agree. They have ratified the last five contracts, including the salaries, even though they had binding arbitration available to resolve any purported disputed salaries.”

During the most recent negotiations, Cotta said he worked with the former union president on various scenarios to resolve pay issues at entry and senior levels, only to have offers rejected that didn’t provide equal percentage increases across the board.

“We tried to provide alternative fixes for the two problems — retention and recruitment — but the union rejected all offers and never once provided a solution to these issues. The end result is the current ratified three-year contract, one that was agreed upon by both sides.”

The contract, which expires in June 2025, was reopened per an agreement by both sides with the understanding that only salaries would be addressed.

Cotta said the recently offered 10 percent increase represented a “show of good faith” by a town that is “willing to provide significant and unprecedented increases into the next contract as well, but through the legal contract negotiation process.”

Barboza, however, said the town’s actions destroy the rank structure.

“A guy that’s been here for 25 years is getting paid $54,000. Two new guys that just graduated from the academy are making $52,000.”

He added that the collective bargaining agreement guarantees the non-probationary group a 2.75 increase in the coming year. Town officials offered an additional 7.25 percent, which is how they arrived at what they labeled a 10 percent increase.

“We are the lowest paid department in the state, and after they do that, we are still the lowest paid department in the state. We should get the same raise as the probationary group, and that is what will make us comparable to other fire departments.”