Cape Coral firefighter’s union works to strike deal

First responders put their lives on the line for all of us every day. Now, Cape Coral firefighters are fighting back for better healthcare and pay.

The city and firefighters resumed negotiations on Friday.

They spent almost three hours Friday morning negotiating, and they have the same goal in mind: to get the fire department’s pay in the 75th percentile of the country. Of course, the complicated part is how to do that.

The city finance director, Mark Mason, presented the city’s proposals to the union, but there’s a lot still unanswered for the union.

They want a 21% pay increase and better healthcare, but the city’s proposal is only a 16.5% increase, which the union said won’t get all ranks to the 75th percentile.

During the meeting, the fire union asked why it took so long, about six months, for these proposals to be made.

The city said it took that long to evaluate the numbers.

Mark Muerth, the president of Professional Firefighters of Cape Coral, said, “After today’s discussion at negotiations, they understand there is comparative groups out there that we need to be focused on, and so obviously, the fire inspectors are going to need some movement, even though today’s city proposal was at zero.”

The Cape Coral Professional Firefighters’ proposal is still about a million dollars more than the city’s proposal.

While the negotiations are careful and calculated, the Cape firefighters are without a contract right now, so they need to be timely, too.

The city would not do an interview.