Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Tentative Agreement for Fire Personnel

The Santa Ana Firefighters Benevolent Assn. has reached a tentative 30-month agreement with the city that calls for wage increases for firefighters, dispatchers and other Fire Department personnel.

The proposed contract would increase wages 4.5 percent in the first year, retroactive to July 1, 1987; 5 percent in July, 1988, and 3.5 percent in July, 1989, Deputy City Manager Jan Perkins said. It would expire at the end of 1989, she said. It must be approved by the City Council and association members.

Steve Critchfield, president of the 240-member association, said the agreement was reached Wednesday after a four-hour meeting between association and city negotiators, who had been bargaining since April.

“No contract is as good as you would like,” Critchfield said, “but I think the membership will ratify,” with a vote likely before the middle of January.

Firefighters earn $2,311 to $2,810 a month; dispatchers, $1,742 to $2,118, and fire inspectors, $1,635 to $1,987, Critchfield said.

The only remaining labor negotiations between the city and its employees involve the 460-member Police Benevolent Assn., which has been without a contract about seven months.