Negotiations between the City and Borough of Juneau and the local chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters have stalled out after more than a year of contract negotiations. The union has been operating without one since last summer.
In its proposal for a three-year contract, the city says it is offering Juneau’s local IAFF the best offer it has ever made to a union, but firefighters say it still doesn’t make their department competitive for recruits or for employees to stay in the long term.
Juneau’s Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said the city has come to agreements with two other city unions – the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association for port employees and the Public Safety Employees Association for police.
“IAFF is the last remaining,” he said. “And to IAFF, specifically, CBJ has offered the best — like the single sole best monetary offer that we’ve ever made to any union ever.”
Barr said the city is offering, on average, a more than 11% wage increase in the first year – though what the actual increase is depends on position and pay level.
Juneau’s local IAFF union president, Logan Balstad, said the first-year increase is much lower for entry-level positions, and those wages would still be less competitive region-wide. For the second and third years of the contract, the city is proposing a 1% increase for each year, according to the union.
The starting pay for a CCFR firefighter or emergency medical technician is $20 an hour.
Balstad said uncompetitive wages have made it challenging for the department to recruit and retain experienced firefighters.
“People have to be able to afford to live here,” he said. “They have to be able to afford to start a life here, and really, our wages need to reflect that.”
A 2024 wage study showed that CCFR firefighters are paid between 9-19% lower than other departments in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. Union officials say those comparisons are worse now. Balstad said, in the past year, other fire departments in the region have successfully negotiated 16% increases.
The department is short nine positions, according to the new fire chief and a press release from the union. Six apprentices are expected to fill some of those positions in the near future.
For the past few years, Juneau firefighters have had to work mandatory overtime to make up for the absences.
Balstad said that over the past decade, the department has had fewer firefighters with long-term experience.
Barr said there have been some unexpected hangups with the negotiation process: like the process of finding a neutral, third-party investigator that will look into wage tables of comparable departments and Juneau’s economic conditions.
Both the union and the city said they are willing to keep negotiating to reach an agreement.
Juneau’s teachers union also remains at an impasse with the Juneau School Board.
