LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For nearly nine months, Louisville firefighters have worked under an expired contract.

What You Need To Know

  • The Louisville Fire Department's contract with the city expired nearly nine months ago

  • The firefighters' union said their salaries are behind the jurisdictional average

  • Jeff Taylor, the union's president, said some of their equipment is aging with no plan in sight 

  • Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, said he is now "personally" involved in negotiations

Louisville Professional Firefighters Local 54, which is part of the International Association of Firefighters, said their members are frustrated with pay and other budget challenges. 

The union's president said it is “abnormal” to be nine months past a contract expiration date without a new one in place. He said the city did not make time for negotiations until months after the contract expired.

The union represents around 500 Louisville firefighters, and many are frustrated right now.

"Our members have started to lash out on Facebook; they're extremely frustrated ... that's not an arena for me to participate in, and I don't think that's a professional place for me to be, but I also need to represent their needs, concerns and their frustrations," said Jeff Taylor, president of Louisville Professional Firefighters Local 54. 

Taylor said one of the firefighters' biggest concerns is pay. He said their base salary is well behind the jurisdictional average.

"They’ve absorbed the cost of living, just as everybody else has in this country, and they've done it without pay increases," he said. "Their ability to provide for their family has been significantly impacted."

The other challenge he said they are facing is the aging of some of their equipment with no plan to fix it. That includes some of the tools used to rescue the driver hanging over the Second Street Bridge during Friday's incident. 

"It's an auxiliary piece of equipment, but the piece of equipment that it's backing up is 20 years old, so we're significantly behind on apparatus replacement," Taylor said.

Firefighters said they are frustrated because there are no investments in training, equipment or special units.

"There is no investment into what we consider special units, and especially for us, it's hazmat, it's trench, it's structural collapse, it's river rescue, it's high angle rescue," Taylor said. "There (are) a lot of disciplines that are made up and within the special units."

However, no matter how frustrated they are, firefighters will always respond to emergencies, Taylor said. 

"We'd like for the for the mayor's office to continue to stay more involved, as he's promised he would in the last couple of weeks," Taylor said. "Let's get some serious momentum going and get this done, and we will take this off the radar for both of us."

In a statement from his office, Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, said he supports the heroic men and women of Louisville Professional Firefighters Local 54.

“Mayor Greenberg is now personally involved in the contract negotiations and agrees the process has taken too long. We believe we are close to a positive resolution for the firefighters and the city,” the mayor's office said in a statement. 

There are two contracts the union is negotiating. The rank-and-file contract, which represents most of the union, will take months to resolve. The other contract is for battalion and chiefs, which Taylor said a deal is expected soon. 

Related Stories