The Morning Report
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The San Diego City Council will meet again this afternoon to discuss a contract for City Firefighters Local 145 after last week’s meeting ended in a stalemate with Mayor Jerry Sanders.
Sanders, who as mayor is responsible for conducting negotiations with the labor groups, wants to freeze firefighter salaries for a third consecutive year and impose an overhaul of the city’s healthcare plans. Several City Council members have publicly stated that they want to give the firefighters a raise, although most seem supportive of the health plan reorganization.
Last week, the two sides of the city camp could not reconcile the dispute internally after meeting multiple times in closed session.
City Attorney Mike Aguirre released a written opinion for how to resolve the internal disagreement yesterday. If the council wants to raise firefighters’ pay, Aguirre advised that they agree to impose the mayor’s offer on the union, but then tweak the related legislation that enables the city to pay employees so that it reflects the amount of the raise.
You can read Aguirre’s memo here.