A message from the Town Manager of North Andover regarding negotiations with Fire Union IAFF Local 2035.

The Town of North Andover has been actively negotiating with the Fire Union since January 2024. In August, after best efforts from both parties, the Fire Union and the Town jointly declared that an agreement could not be reached and filed a joint petition to go to arbitration at the Joint Labor Management Committee.  

My team has actively worked over the last five years to improve relationships with employees and departments. We have tried to build a culture of mutual respect, and it saddens me that any employee or member of the public would think that we have anything but the utmost appreciation for the team members at the Fire Department. I know how much this community supports its Fire Fighters and I wholeheartedly agree that they play a critical role in protecting our community everyday. 

In the past five years, we have created 4 ladder lieutenants and increased the fire department’s manning by 4 firefighters (the first increase since 1999, and which was funded through Amazon new growth), purchased 2 ambulances (with a third one ordered), purchased 2 fire engines, funded the design for the renovation of Station 2, appropriated funding for an aging ladder truck, ordered a new rescue boat, and secured grants for personal protective equipment and emergency gear.

In the last contract, which ended June 30, 2024, in return for removing the Firefighters from Civil Service, the Town agreed to:

• Extending the full EMT stipend of 10% to all firefighters not just those serving on the ambulance, which benefited 27 employees.

• Grant an additional holiday to all employees and change the holiday pay schedule so all employees were treated equally despite their hire date.

• A 2.5 % additional increase for our firefighters with the most seniority.

• A financial package of 12.25% for the average firefighter over three years putting our fire fighters on par with firefighters in our comparable communities, not including the increase in holiday pay.

In our current negotiations, the Town has offered:

• A financial package of 13.0%-13.5% over three years, which is the same as the agreements reached with our other public safety departments.

• Creation of a union affiliated Captain position, which would increase Fire Department staffing from 60 to 61 and create promotional opportunities within the union.

• An increase to the number of days that can be used for family illness (from 3 to 8).

• A memorialization of the current practice that the Town reimburses firefighters for cancer-related treatments that were not covered by health insurance, which safeguards employees in case another administration wanted to stop this practice.

• The ability for the Town Manager to allow for up to 12 months of unpaid leave at the Firefighter’s request.

• Memorialization of the Town’s practices regarding Military Leave, in order to best protect our active duty employees.

• Memorialization of the Town’s current Family Medical Leave Act and Parental Leave Act practices which serve to protect employees.

• A proposal that would have increased contractual manning from 10 to 13 firefighters per shift. In exchange, the Town asked for protective language allowing a decrease to 12 in the event of unforeseen budget shortfalls/circumstances, such as state budget cuts.  Even with protective language, allowing the Town to drop to 12 firefighters, this proposal increased the current contractual manning.

Our work and the negotiations continue. We look forward to continuing to work with the leadership of the fire union to negotiate a fair and equitable contract.