Firefighters await pay hike news

WXIA TV

January 31, 2005

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin could make an announcement Monday regarding the city firefighters’ ongoing push for a pay raise.

Franklin is expected to announce how much a surplus there is in the city budget on Monday. With that, part of the surplus could cover the costs of increasing the salaries of the city’s fire crews.

Jim Daws, of the Atlanta Firefighters Union, has said Mayor Franklin and the Atlanta City Council agreed that if the city budget included a surplus, then they would consider increasing the firefighters’ pay rate from 1 to 4 percent.

Mayor Franklin’s 2005 budget allots a 1 percent raise for Atlanta firefighters and a 4 percent increase for Atlanta police. City councilwoman Anne Fauver has said the pay hike helps Atlanta police compete nationally with other police departments.

Atlanta’s firefighters cried foul, taking their lobby for an equal pay raise to the steps of City Hall, Atlanta’s city streets and even to the Atlanta Police Department. There, dozens of firefighters filled out applications to join the police department.

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