Council Approves Firefighters’ Union Contract

The Sturgeon Bay Common Council approved a new, three-year labor contract Nov. 1 with the city’s Firefighters Association Local 2682.

Based on a 2,912-hour work year, the new agreement provides the union firefighters with 4% wage increases in both 2023 and 2024, and a 3% increase in 2025.

“It’s a good deal for the city,” said District 3 Alder Dan Williams, who chairs the city’s Personnel Committee. “It’s a good deal for the union.”

Under the contract provisions also ratified by the union, the hourly wages effective Jan. 1 will range from $20.54 for a first-year firefighter to $24.70 for a lieutenant. In 2025, those hourly rates will be $22 and $26.46, respectively.

Mayor David Ward said the budgetary impact of the new agreement for wages and benefits next year will be roughly an additional $140,000, which was factored into the 2023 budget that the council approved Oct. 31.