Both sides involved in a dispute over firemen’s wage increases said the matter is unlikely to be resolved quickly.

The City of DeKalb and The International Association of Firefighters Local 1236 are in arbitration concerning a retroactive wage increase which was scheduled to go into effect from July 1, 1987 to June 30, 1988. The city offered a 2 percent wage increase, while the firefighters have requested a 6 percent increase.

Assistant City Manager Gary Boden said the earliest the city expects an arbitrator’s decision is mid-April. However, he said a decision might be delayed further because the city’s advocate in the arbitration hearings suffered a heart attack.

Hearings are scheduled to resume in February but might be delayed if Dekalb Attorney Jordan Gallagher, the city’s advocate, does not recover in time to make the meeting.

Local 1236 Vice President Steve Reid also said he does not expect a quick settlement. “It (an arbitrator’s decision) is not going to be fairly soon,” he said.

Reid criticized the city council for not taking part in the arbitration hearings. “We (firefighters) have no direct communication with the council,” he said.

Boden said it is not uncommon for elected officials to send representatives to arbitration hearings.

DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow said the council unanimously agreed to send city staff members to represent them at the proceedings. “You may not see a specific alderman (at the hearings), but we’re (the council) kept well-informed (of the arbitration),” he said.

Boden said the arbitrator will decide in favor of one or the other party in the dispute. If the city offers of a 2 percent increase and the firefighters’ 6 percent increase do not change during the hearings, the arbitrator will decide to grant the firefighter s one of the two proposals. The arbitrator cannot decide in favor of an increase between the two offers, he said.

The arbitrator’s decision must be ratified by the city council, Boden said. If the council failed to ratify the arbitrator’s decision, the matter would go back into arbitration.

However, state law mandates that the council pay for the arbitrator and advocates from both parties. “The council can send it back … (but) the cost of future meetings would be born out by the council,” Boden said.

Before the arbitrator makes a decision, each party pays for their own advocate, and they share the cost of the arbitrator.

The compulsory interest arbitration law went into effect to “have the ability to resolve (labor disputes) in lieu of going on strike,” Boden said.

Reid disagreed with a city staff press release that stated the city’s offer to the firefighters is the same as that offered to other employees.

“This proposed 2 percent increase is the same wage increase negotiated and agreed upon with the city’s other two collective bargaining units and given to mangement and part-time employees,” the release stated.

Firefighters’ base pay, which is the amount paid after an employee has worked four years, is $26,330, while the base pay for police is $29,249.

Reid said the pay inequity is 11 percent and ould remain at 9 percent if the 2 percent increase is accepted.

The city’s press release states there is “no conclusive evidence that police officers and firefighters should be paid the same.”

Boden said part of the difference in pay resulted because negotiations with police already have taken place. In August, the police agreed to a 4.5 percent increase which went into effect Jan. 1, he said.

Negotiations for a new contract with firefighters scheduled to go into effect from July 1, 1988 to June 30, 1989 might begin this spring. If the two groups agree to a 4.5 percent increase, the difference in pay would be 6.5 percent, Boden said.

Boden said firefighters who are certified paramedics make an additional $1,050 per year and receive educational bonuses of up to $250 per year.