The union representing Redding Firefighters says city administrators have been dragging their feet on crafting a new contract, and it’s taking its toll on the department. Negotiators have been trying to come up with an agreement for more than a year and Redding Firefighters have been working without a contract for more than 4 months. Redding Professional Firefighters Local 1934 says that’s because the city has continually canceled and postponed meetings with them. For the first time in the history of the department, it’s operating with virtually full staffing. The union says it’s seeing a lot of turnover though, with 23% of firefighters hired in the last ten years being wiled away by other fire agencies.On Tuesday nights the city council has closed session negotiations in the agenda for electrical workers, police officers and “UPEC-Technical”, but not for firefighters.
In an unrelated item, the Redding City Council will vote Tuesday on the purchase of a parcel of land on Tarmac Road for $575,000 that will be the site of fire station number nine. The land is being purchased with federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act. It’s not known when ground will be broken on the Multi-Million Dollar fire station.