AUBURN – Firefighters and city officials have started working on the details of a new labor contract even while trying to settle their last deal.

Firefighters don’t like where initial discussions are going, according to Mike Scott, president of the Auburn Firefighters Association Local 797.

“The choices they’ve given us are essentially to lose benefits or lose people,” Scott said. “We’ve had a couple of meetings, but neither one was overly productive.”

The current contract is due to expire June 30.

The union is also fighting to overturn a decision by a state labor arbitrator that favored the city.

The union claims the city reneged on a February 2003 contract that gave firefighters a 2 percent raise. The raise was scheduled to take effect last July, but the city reopened the contract and delayed issuing the raise.

City officials claim the contract gives them the right to reopen the contract, and the state arbitrator agreed.

City Manager Pat Finnigan said the contract allowed either side to re-open negotiations.

“So, if there is a matter that is of concern to firefighters, it should be enough to reopen negotiations,” she said.

The city needed to reopen negotiations last summer, when it went into a hiring freeze . The city wanted to give firefighers 3 percent raises, not 5 percent. The arbitrator ruled that the city could reopen those negotiations.

The union has filed a suit in Superior Court asking to have the decision overturned. In the meantime, firefighters are looking at what the city is offering in a new contract.

Finnigan said the city moved Auburn police patrol officers to a less expensive health care plan last month. Officers also agreed to pay 15 percent of their premiums.

All other city departments have the less expensive plan, and Finnigan said she’d like firefighters to move their insurance as well.

Other issues being negotiated include overtime and staff levels for individual shifts, she said.

“We are trying to find ways to save money in each department without eliminating staff,” Finnigan said.

Firefighters are already stretched thin, and Scott said changing firefighters schedules would be dangerous.

For example, firefighters usually put two staffers on each firetruck. National standards require a minimum of four people to be at the scene before any can go into a burning building.

“Any of our trucks that show up for a structural fire need to wait for another truck before they can go in. That lets the fire get bigger and it destroys more property.”

Still, Finnigan said she’s confident the city can reach a deal with the union.

“We might not make it by June 30, but I’m optimistic we can work it out,” Finnigan said.

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