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Firefighters' Demands Reasonable

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By LARRY PARKER

Published: December 19, 2007

Your recent editorial in the Tribune concerning contract negotiations with the Tampa firefighters reported information that is inaccurate and misleading. The Tribune editorial, "By Demanding 10 Percent Raise, City Firefighters Insult Taxpayers" (Our Opinion, Dec. 14),claims "government unions have lost all sense of economic reality."

Well, here is a little economic reality about what Tampa firefighters are facing with the city's most recent offer.

If Tampa firefighters were to accept the contract proposal being offered by the city, a Tampa firefighter with 12 years of dedicated service will make almost 13 percent less in 2007 (with the city's current proposal), than a Tampa firefighter did with the same 12 years of service in 2006.

That is a reality and an absolute fact.

The city's most recent proposal and the terms of the contract are very misleading on the surface. Tampa firefighters work very hard each and every day serving the citizens of Tampa and routinely put their own well-being on the line to make a positive difference in the lives they have sworn to serve and protect.
Tampa firefighters have fallen behind in pay the last several years and are not even close to one of the highest-paid in the state.

The city's proposal of 2.3 percent falls below what all other city employees will receive this year. You say that is more than generous; I think not. We are high-risk employees who deserve to be compensated for the risks we take; we are not sitting behind a desk writing an editorial.

We are not demanding a 10 percent wage increase; our last proposal was 5 percent cost of living increase and this will still not even come close to making us one of the highest-paid in the state. The consumer price index for the Tampa area for the first half of 2007 was 5.17 percent.

In conclusion, please get your facts straight before printing your editorials. The only one insulting the taxpayers are you with your one-sided views.

Larry Parker is president of the International Association of Firefighters, Local 754.

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