City of San Diego firefighters will receive a 3 percent raise July 1 and a second 2 percent raise Sept. 1, according to the terms of their new labor contract, released by the Mayor’s Office today.
The firefighters hadn’t received a raise for four years.
Fred Sainz, spokesman for Mayor Jerry Sanders, said that while the Fire-Rescue Department wasn’t experiencing a recruitment and retention crisis like the Police Department, the department was starting to show strains. He said the contract will bring the firefighters up a little bit toward competing with market rates.
Earlier this week, the mayor agreed to a 6 percent raise with the police officers union and announced he would challenge in court two popular pension benefit programs available to city employees.