Wilmington Selectmen & Firefighters Reach Deal On New Contract

WILMINGTON, MA — The Wilmington Board of Selectmen unanimously agreed to a collective bargaining agreement between the Town and the Wilmington Fire Local 1370 at its meeting on Monday.

The contract will run for three years — from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2018.

At Selectmen Chair Mike Champoux’s request, Assistant Town Manager Kendra Amaral highlighted the SIX changes made in the new contract:

• Cost of living increases were negotiated at 2% for Fiscal Year 2016; 2.25% for Fiscal Year 2017; and 2% for Fiscal Year 2018.
• Amended the residency requirements. Under state law, a firefighter has to live within 10 miles of the community they serve. The town had calculated the 10-mile radius from border-to-door, but will now use a border-to-border calculation. The town has included a list of “accepted communities” into the contract. A new firefighter would have nine months to get in compliance with this clause in the contract.
• Amended the education incentive. Firefighters used to earn education incentives based on college credits, but they will now need to achieve a full-degree to receive the education incentive. The value of the education incentives have been increased.
• Established an administrative schedule for employees put on paid administrative leave. It had been difficult for the town to schedule appointments (e.g., psychical evaluations) for firefighters due to the nature of their schedules (e.g., 24-hour shifts). The town will now be able to schedule appointments for firefighters Monday-Thursday, during normal business hours.
• Eliminated a line preventing firefighters from taking vacation between December 15 and December 31. The contract already has good controls on preventing too many firefighters from taking vacation at the same time, so the town felt there was no harm in removing a line prohibiting vacation during the last 2+ weeks of the year.
• Amended the flexible spending program. This employee benefit program is currently paper-based with administrative costs absorbed solely by the town. The town plans to move to a more modern, debit-card system for which employees would share the program’s costs.

The Selectmen, who had previously discussed the contract in Executive Session meetings, had no questions or comments prior to the vote.

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