Firefighters, Cops demand better pay

WXIA TV

February 12, 2004
Reported by: Valerie Hoff

Firefighters and police officers took their battle for a pay raise to the streets of Atlanta Wednesday. Dozens marched from Turner Field to Atlanta City Hall to draw attention to their quest to boost their benefits.

With a starting salary of $30,700 for firefighters and $32,700 for police officers, union officials say their pay and pension fails to measure up to their counterparts in neighboring counties.

"For the third year in a row, our firefighters have received 20-percent less in pension when they retire and that's a major impact on someone who's leaving and trying to enjoy their retirement," said Fire Capt. David Rhodes.

The march ended at City Hall in time for a council finance meeting scheduled to address the new city budget. That budget includes a two-percent pay raise for police and firefighters.

To that, Rhodes said, "A two-percent raise for a firefighter equals between $400 and $600 and that was completely eaten up by the increase in insurance costs and actually firefighters, for the majority of cases, will bring home less than they did last year."

Hours into the meeting, the council decided on a two percent pay raise effective now and another two percent pay raise in July.

“It’s not everything we wanted, but it’s certainly a move in the right direction,” Rhodes said to the increase. “It’s the right thing to do given the budget money the council had to play with.”

Wednesday evening, the finance committee approved a three percent pay raise retroactive to last month.

The measure will go before the City Council on Monday, which has the final vote.

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