IAFF Local 42 President Dan Heisman, seated center right, sits next to Kansas City, MO Mayor Quinton Lucas, seated center left, on the 26th floor of Kansas City, MO’s City Hall just moments after the Kansas City, MO City Council passed their new collective bargaining agreement. Elected members of IAFF Local 42, Kansas City, MO city council members, City Manager Brian Platt, and rank-and-file members of IAFF Local 42 can be seen gathered behind the seated pair.
IAFF Local 42 has a new collective bargaining agreement, after weeks of intense bargaining with the City of Kansas City, MO, that includes significant wage increases and that was overwhelmingly ratified by its membership.
“I am proud to work with Local 42 to come to a transformational and fair agreement, benefitting our first responders who put their lives on the line every day,” said Mayor Lucas. “We will continue to ensure we have a fire department that is equitable for all, adequately staffed, and with employees who are paid fairly. Not only will the new contract take care of our current first responders, but it will help us recruit the next generation of our community’s heroes.”
Mayor Lucas has now signed two collective bargaining agreements with IAFF Local 42 as mayor and suppported a third when he was still the 3rd District At-Large Councilman.
Highlights of the agreement include:
- An average of 14% in wage increases for members’ first year and a 26.7% increase over five years.
- An incentive rate of 20% if they decide to work on ambulances—a job that’s currently in high demand.
- Increase the number of ambulances from 32 to 35 during the day and from 16 to 28 during the night to respond to emergencies.
- Increased staffing for communications division and added protections for dispatchers, including holdover limits.
- Interview processes for trainers at the fire academy will be used instead of straight seniority, ensuring the most capable individuals are selected.
- Additional diversity, equity, and inclusion training, specific to each unique work environment and DEI positions.
- Driver’s test and trainings required for fire truck drivers to ensure they are qualified.
- New pool of instructors to provide continued education and advancement for all employees.
Tristin Amezcua-Hogan is the Editor of The Labor Beacon and a member of LIUNA Local 264. Tristin also serves as the Director of Communications for the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO and the Chair of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance.
Tristin grew up as the son of a UA Local 669 member in Tecumseh, KS and the great-nephew of George C. Amis, longtime leader of the United Rubberworkers (now USW Local 307) in Kansas. Growing up in rural Kansas as the child of teen parents, Tristin quickly came to appreciate the life-changing benefit of a union job.
Tristin and his partner, Rebeca Amezcua-Hogan, are residents of the Westside, Kansas City, MO's historic Mexican neighborhood. They are proud members of Kansas City's New Reform Temple.
