The City Council has unanimously approved labor agreements with the Long Beach Firefighters and Long Beach Lifeguards associations \u2013 which change wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment for the groups\u2019 members.<\/p>\n
Both labor agreements will provide salary increases for employees. The firefighters\u2019 agreement also includes incentives aimed at improving workforce productivity and skill levels, while the lifeguards\u2019 agreement includes incentives for improving workforce retention, according to the staff reports.<\/p>\n
The three-year contracts will run retroactively from Oct. 1 of this year to Sept. 30, 2028. The council approved the labor contracts on Tuesday, Nov. 11.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to thank our firefighters for coming to the table and working with the city of Long Beach,\u201d Mayor Rex Richardson said during the council meeting. \u201cAs a part of this, there are new enhancements that are part of this contract that improve response times in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agreement between Long Beach and the Firefighters Association adds resources to better respond to the increased calls for service from the city\u2019s constituents and improve response times, officials said.\u00a0 As a result, the parties have agreed to add a full-time paramedic rescue team \u2013 staffed by six personnel \u2013 to meet the ongoing needs of the public.<\/p>\n
Firefighters will also get a salary increase of 2% in the first year, 3% in the second year and 4% in the third year, while the contract also expands eligible employees for Firefighter II skill pay; and requires active members of the association to make mandatory contributions to their retired health savings account beginning on Oct. 3, 2026.<\/p>\n
The Long Beach Firefighters Association represents 411 sworn employees; members of the association voted to ratify the agreement last month. Prior to reaching the agreement, city and association representatives had held seven meetings since May.<\/p>\n
This agreement is an important and necessary part of the city\u2019s ability to mitigate staffing challenges citywide and to support its current employees, as well as retain and attract new employees, city staffers said.<\/p>\n
The agreement will have an estimated total net fiscal impact of $29.7 million once fully implemented by the end of fiscal year 2028, of which $29.5 million will come from the general fund, according to the staff report. These costs exceed the planned placeholder within the current projection and will add to the estimated general fund shortfall by $2 million in FY26, $2.1 million in FY27 and $1.4 million in FY28.<\/p>\n
Long Beach is facing large financial challenges ahead, according to the staff report; budget-balancing actions, including reducing staff, may be necessary to ensure financial stability. Service enhancement proposed within the firefighters\u2019 agreement may need to be reduced from the budget in a future year.<\/p>\n
At the moment, however, this contract is a win for the Firefighters Association, union officials said. It marks a decisive shift away from the old mindset of \u201cdoing more with less,\u201d association representatives said, adding that they believe the people of Long Beach deserve the best, from the firefighters who respond to their calls to the resources, staffing and training that make every response possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis agreement isn\u2019t about asking for more; it\u2019s about doing better,\u201d Lamont Nguyen, president of the Long Beach Firefighters Association, said in a statement. \u201cIt\u2019s proof that when labor and management choose partnership over politics, the entire community wins. Together, we\u2019ve shown what it means to lead by action, not words, marking a new era of partnership and real public safety investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmembers congratulated the city and the Long Beach Firefighters Association negotiators on the labor agreement, but also said they would continue to find ways to support their needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that some of my colleagues and myself certainly want to continue to find ways to invest in the capital improvements that I know will be needed to ensure that we have safe and modern facilities moving forward,\u201d said Councilmember Tunua Thrash-Ntuk. \u201cWe want to make sure that you are able to be comfortable so you can go out and do that work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lifeguards Association agreement, meanwhile, provides for salary increases and incentives aimed at improving workforce retention, including new education pay for lifeguard non-careers to boost recruitment and retention, officials said.<\/p>\n
The agreement includes general salary increases of 2% in the first and second years, and 3% in the third year; salary adjustments for the classifications of the marine safety battalion chief, marine safety officer and marine safety rescue boat captain; and the new education pay for lifeguard non-careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cLikewise, we want to thank our lifeguards for their partnership,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cWe have almost nine miles of coastline in our city, and we know that the challenges are increasing with increased rainfall. We have an atmospheric river coming in this week. That just means for Long Beach, at the southern end of two rivers and multiple watersheds, there are even more demands on our lifeguards. To have their partnership is incredibly important because our number one priority is to keep people safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lifeguards Association represents 211 employees, and members voted to ratify the agreement last month, officials said. Prior to reaching this agreement, the city and association representatives held six negotiation meetings since June.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are pleased to have reached an agreement with the city that supports our lifeguards,\u201d Lifeguards Association President Devon Beebe said in a statement ahead of Tuesday\u2019s meeting, \u201cand ensures our ability to continue providing vital water safety services for the residents and visitors of Long Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n
This agreement will have an estimated total net fiscal impact of $1.62 million once fully implemented by the end of FY28, according to the staff report.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud to support this,\u201d said Councilmember Megan Kerr. \u201cWe know our lifeguards are part of our comprehensive public safety team and plan in the city, and really proud to work alongside them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City Council has unanimously approved labor agreements with the Long Beach Firefighters and Long Beach Lifeguards associations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,1610,1071,23,131,133,132,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-52046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-city-council","10":"tag-local-government","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-long-beach","13":"tag-long-beach-headlines","14":"tag-long-beach-news","15":"tag-los-angeles-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}