L.A. firefighters union offers financial concessions in deal to avoid budget cuts

Los Angeles firefighters have reached a tentative deal to delay their next raise in return for a promise that the city will preserve staffing. The union that represents more than 3,600 Los Angeles city firefighters has agreed to push back a 4.5% raise scheduled for this summer, the latest concession offered up by a labor group as the city seeks to address a major budget crisis, according to a union bulletin sent Thursday. United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112 tentatively agreed to postpone its next pay increase by 18 months in exchange for a guarantee that city leaders would avoid the imposition of “brownouts,” the temporary closure of fire stations, and preserve department staffing, the bulletin said. “Our firefighters are once again demonstrating that we are fair and reasonable when our city needs us during these extraordinary times,” the union’s board said in the bulletin. Lally, the LAPD union president, said the pay increase that’s scheduled for this month “will finally bring us to parity with our public safety counterparts.” It would be unfair, he said, for firefighters to receive their entire raise for the current fiscal year while police officers see only a fraction of theirs.