POCATELLO — Pocatello firefighters will receive a slight increase in pay, move to a more convenient work schedule and have more access to mental health benefits in the future, according to a tentative agreement their union has reached with the city.

The International Association of Firefighters Local 187 and Pocatello officials have been negotiating a new contract for weeks.

And they’ve finally reached the point where they can draft a collective bargaining agreement, which will be reviewed by both parties when completed, said Heather Buchanan, Pocatello’s human resources director. The City Council will also vote on the CBA in the future, likely in September after the budget has been adopted.

Andy Moldenhauer, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 187, felt the negotiations took longer than necessary but said he’s “reasonably happy with the results.”

Under the tentative agreement, the city would provide pay increases, applied to the base salary for each pay grade, over the next three years. Firefighters would receive 2.5 percent raises in 2022, 3 percent raises in 2023 and 3.5 percent raises in 2024.

Moldenhauer says the increases are slightly more than the cost of living hikes and will help, but it doesn’t bring them much closer to the 15 percent gap between Pocatello’s pay and comparable fire departments.

That’s frustrating because they’ve lost 13 firefighters to other departments in the past six years, largely due to wages, Moldenhauer said.

“It’s really unfortunate. We bring guys on and train them to work for us and five or six years later they go work for another department. They use our department as a stepping stone,” Moldenhauer said.

The schedule has been another factor in such departures. That’s one of the reasons why Moldenhauer is excited about the scheduling changes they’re working on.

Currently, the Pocatello Fire Department has three platoons that each work three 24-hour shifts in nine days. But Moldenhauer says the firefighters can be awake and responding to calls throughout their 24-hour shifts and often spend their days off sleeping and trying to recover.

“The current work schedule is disruptive to your sleep six out of every nine days,” Moldenhauer said, adding that can cause a lot of fatigue over the course of a career.

The new schedule will allow firefighters to work 48 hours at a time and then get 96 hours off, and Moldenhauer believes the longer rest and recovery time will make a difference for them.

Buchanan says the change was a major give for the city, but they hope it will help firefighters to have a better work/life balance in the future.

The city and firefighter’s union are still meeting to develop the new 48/96 schedule policy, which could be implemented as early as this fall or as late as October of next year.

As part of the negotiations, the city also proposed an Enhanced Employee Assistance Program, which will give firefighters better access to mental health benefits and encourage them to reach out when they need assistance, Buchanan said. She noted that the police department has benefited from the same program in recent years.

“It’s a good way to give back to our first responders,” she said.

The union and city had also discussed adding another vacation slot, allowing four firefighters to be on vacation at a time rather than three, but that was later dropped from the negotiations.

There was also talk of eliminating the fire department’s emergency vehicle technician position, but the parties ultimately decided to keep the position under the union as long as the current employee, who is certified to work on fire trucks, remains in the position. If the position is ever vacated, the city will start providing those services.

Overall, Moldenhauer is happy with the decisions they reached during the negotiations and believes they will contribute to better morale at the department in the future.

“Happy workers are better workers,” he said. “Hopefully, with improved morale, we’ll start seeing a change in the trend of people leaving.”

The city also recently reached a tentative agreement with the police union, Portneuf Valley Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 13.

Under that CBA, which the union will review and vote on before it goes to the City Council for a vote, officers would receive a 2.5 percent increase in 2022, 3 percent in 2023, and 3.5 percent in both 2024 and 2025.

In addition, the city would add four more step increases to the pay chart for sworn officers.

“A new step will be added each year for the four-year contract of 1.5 percent, extending the steps from six to 10,” Buchanan said. “This ensures officers who were previously at the maximum step will receive a step increase for the next four years, in addition to the table increases.”

For instance, a sworn officer who is already at step six will not only receive the 2.5 percent table increase next year, but also the 1.5 percent step increase for a total of 4 percent.

Buchanan noted that the city provides for first responders’ safety needs and their department’s operating budgets so the unions can focus solely on compensation and benefits during their negotiations.

“We don’t make the unions come and ask for basic safety equipment. We address that in the budget so they can focus on taking care of wages,” she said. “The mayor has been very supportive of it and it’s something we’re very proud of.”