Guilford Fire Union Agrees to New Contract, Pay Increase

After over a year in negotiations, the Guilford Firefighters, International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 4177 and the Town of Guilford have settled on a new three-year contract.

The contract, which is retroactive to July 1, 2014, was ratified by the union last week and unanimously approved by the Board of Selectmen on August 24, 2015.

The new collective bargaining agreement provides wage raises of 2.0% effective July 1, 2014 (retroactive), 2.4% effective July 1, 2015 (retroactive), and 2.6% effective July 1, 2016.

Changes have been made to the medical plan whereby participants will move from a two-tiered to a threetiered prescription drug plan and will pay a 20% cost sharing for medical and dental benefits.

In addition, while current firefighters will remain in the Pension Plan, newly hired firefighters will be enrolled in a 401(a) defined contribution retirement plan.

New hires will also have an enhanced life insurance and long term disability insurance provisions.

First Selectman Joe Mazza noted that he was pleased with the final language. “This was a long and deliberate negotiation on both sides and I am pleased with the outcome. We have enhanced a number of benefits for our firefighters and our salaries remain competitive. In addition, all new hires in the Town of Guilford will now be enrolled in a defined contribution retirement plan. Our Pension Plan will only exist for current employees and retirees, which will provide significant budgetary savings in the years to come.”

The firefighters are the last group to agree to the defined contribution plan for new hires.

On an unrelated item the Town of Guilford was recently presented with a check in the amount of $42,680.00 from the Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency (CIRMA). These funds represent Guilford’s prorated share of CIRMA’s equity distribution for 2015.

This distribution is actually a reduction in Guilford’s insurance costs for fiscal year 2015-16. CIRMA operates both Worker’s Compensation and Liability-Automobile-Property risk sharing pools for Guilford and many other Connecticut towns.