LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Union membership for the Louisville Division of Fire turned down the latest proposed contract in a vote Thursday morning.

Louisville firefighters have been working without a new contract for months. The previous two-year contract expired on July 1, 2023. 

"We can work under extensions for as long as we need to. Right now we're under extension until June 30," said Jeff Taylor, president of the Louisville Professional Firefighters Local 54.

Taylor said the latest contract work had been going on about nine months. He learned Thursday morning that by a narrow margin, union membership voted against it.

"The voting opened up Monday morning," Taylor said. "We do an electronic vote. And it closed automatically at 8 o'clock this morning. So the results were posted at that time. Our membership voted that contract down 51% to 49%. The Local's position, frankly, is if it's going to be 51, we'd rather be on the failure side, because if it's 51 on the approval, we don't feel we've done our job."  

Taylor believes the contract was likely voted down due to it being a five-year deal. 

"There was just a lot of push back on a five-year term," he said. "It's with cause: the unpredictability in the economy, the unpredictability with cost of living, the unpredictability of what's going on in the world, you know, they have concerns with stretching themselves out five years and not being able to adjust should the economy continue to be at a higher inflationary rate."

Taylor said he was prepared for either result with the vote. 

"At the end of the day, we work for the membership. You know, they're 500 people strong. We're accountable to them, it's their vote, they're in charge, so now we have maybe a clearer understanding on what we need to do, which is work on that five-year term. Hopefully we'll get some cooperative effort out of the mayor's office."

Thursday afternoon, Mayor Craig Greenberg said he was surprised by the vote. 

"We purposely pushed for a historic contract for our hardworking firefighters. They are heroes, we see that every day. The world has recently seen that and we wanted to reward them with historic raises over a five-year period to continue to attract and retain the best members of the Louisville Fire Department," Greenberg said.

Taylor said terms of the proposed contract included a 24% total raise over five years. He said it was broken down into 7%, 5%, 5%, 3%, and 4% over that time.

"We felt like that the pay, and what we heard from our membership, was that the pay was fine. It was 24% over that five-year term. It did come with retro pay back to July 1 of last year. So the consensus was that was OK, they just really didn't like the five-year term, so we'll have to take a look at that," he said.

Taylor said the contract also included other details aside from pay.

"We were able to increase some vacation time for our more senior people, we were able to increase some accrual time for people that can hold sick time or vacation time, so we were able to increase that. We were able to gain cancer screenings for our members. Metro agreed to reimburse members on an every three year basis to have a cancer screening. It's the number one killer of firefighters across the U.S., that was important thing for us to gain in this contract. So, those are all subtle, low cost for the most part, so easier to get done. The pay is always the complicating factor of any contract," he said.

Greenberg said this contract included historic raises and he would like union membership to reconsider. 

"Now, we'll see what happens. We had planned for the current contract in the budget. There are 11 other contracts we need to negotiate before we can get back to the fire department and between now and then, a budget will be passed, so we'll have to revisit what resources are available following Metro Council's approval of the budget in a couple of months," Greenberg said. "But we want to continue to support the hardworking men and women of Louisville Fire Department who do an amazing job for us every day."  

Taylor said in the mayor's latest budget proposal, $250,000 is included for dive and structural collapse equipment. That budget still needs approval from Metro Council.

Taylor also said the latest budget proposal did not increase funding for maintenance issues at the city's fire stations, and that it did not include increased funds for apparatus replacement.

Louisville Fire Chief Brian O'Neill has mentioned the conditions at fire stations in earlier WDRB reporting in March. 

"We have 21 fire stations with 26 companies, and seven of those stations are over 100 years old," he said.

The Louisville Fire Department was in the national spotlight in March when firefighter Bryce Carden was lowered from a rope from the 2nd Street Bridge on live TV to rescue a semitruck driver as her rig dangled over the Ohio River after a multi-vehicle crash. It was later learned the rope used in the rescue was purchased a decade ago.

As of now for a contract, Louisville Fire will continue operating under an extension. Taylor said that means there will be no enhancements in pay or vacation time until a new contract is reached. He said the current contract was a two-year deal that expired nearly one year ago.

"When we set out to negotiate this contract, we understood that it had to be front-loaded because we had a catch up with regards to cost of living. We knew that. We knew it had to be retro because our members weren't going to stand for something that wasn't retroactive. Our members told us they didn't want zeros in any respective year. We were able to accomplish that," said Taylor.

Taylor went on to add, "The catch for us, was the five-year term. That was the mayor's office response to those demands. So, I don't think we'll get 24% in three years but the contract averaged 4.8% over the five. And so we'll have to work within those parameters to make sure we don't erode the percentage but maybe shorten the term."

Greenberg said this contract included front-loaded raises "in the year that we're nearly done with as of June 30th. So it's really a four-year contract because we're almost done with the first year already."

Greenberg said his office was focused on negotiating the public safety contracts in the city first. He said his office will consider a shorter term for a contract with firefighters, but that would now be after getting through the 11 other contracts awaiting negotiations. 

"... by that time, a new budget will be passed. We'll have a better understanding of what resources are available. I would encourage the union to reconsider this contract. I believe it's in their best interest to approve the contract that they have in front of them right now," said Greenberg. 

Taylor said no matter what, firefighters will continue working to serve the public. 

"What they should take comfort in is our department, our members are extremely professional. And I've said it and I'll continue to say it, our members don't think about their paycheck when the bell goes off. They're going to go out the door, they're going to do what they're supposed to do. They take great pride in that. They're very skilled at it and they're always going to do that. So the public's never going to be at risk," said Taylor.

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