A summary of information surrounding the new CFD contract

A blog post from *Politics Early & Often*, part of *Suntimes.com*, discusses how Chicago is avoiding debt to cover back pay for firefighters and paramedics. The article highlights a five-year contract that allows the city to distribute over $20 million in retroactive pay without increasing its debt. This agreement involves the union giving up some previous concessions in exchange for potential pension reforms. Earlier this year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel convinced the City Council to increase the "commercial paper" program from $500 million to $1 billion. This short-term borrowing tool was meant to help the city manage unexpected expenses, such as retroactive pay or legal judgments. However, officials clarified that the $20 million needed for firefighter and paramedic back pay came from general finance accounts in the 2014 budget — not from borrowed funds. The new contract includes an 11% pay raise over five years, maintains staffing levels, and upgrades all 15 basic-life-support ambulances to advanced-life-support units. This change is expected to improve emergency care and free up about 30 firefighters, as each BLS ambulance is currently staffed by two firefighter-EMTs. The city plans to hire between 50 and 200 additional paramedics to support the transition. According to a source, the shift also reduces the number of required personnel per fire apparatus, allowing more flexibility in staffing. “It’s a win-win,” they said. A six-member committee, including both mayoral appointees and union representatives, will evaluate the need for five more ambulances by 2016. Firefighters have criticized the previous BLS system, which often required last-minute upgrades to ALS during emergencies. “You don’t want to send a BLS ambulance on an ALS call. Lives could be at risk,” one official said. The mayor’s team has expressed interest in expanding ambulance services to 80 units. While the deal includes some concessions — like requiring retirees aged 55–59 to contribute 2% toward health care — it falls short of many of the mayor’s original goals. Perks such as holiday pay, clothing allowances, and premium pay were not addressed, and the union rejected the idea of "double houses" with fewer staff. The agreement is seen as a step toward building collaboration, with the hope of eventually addressing the city’s severe pension crisis. Next year, Chicago must contribute $600 million to stabilize underfunded police and fire pensions. Emanuel is pushing for a delay in this payment until 2023 to give him time to negotiate with unions. “Pushing for other changes would have led to arbitration, and we’d have had to give something else in return,” a source explained. For now, the city is taking a cautious approach, aiming for long-term stability through compromise. Thanks, Dan.

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