After working for two years without a contract, firefighters in the Reedy Creek Improvement District who serve the Walt Disney World Resort are claiming victory. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Magistrate James Stokes sided with the union on several issues in an attempt to move the contract process forward. The union has said that they will agree to the recommendations made by the magistrate while the Reedy Creek Improvement District says they are still going through his report which was issued on October 3.
According to the Sentinel, Stokes’ recommendations included:
•Steps in the pay scale should increase by $3,000 — a change the union had sought. That pay should be retroactive to the end of the last contract. Stokes’ recommendation said “evidence shows the value of each step has remained unchanged since at least 2011 … This is an inordinately long period of time for any agency to ignore the increase in the cost of living.”
•The district should pay 90 percent of employees’ health-insurance costs. Reedy Creek has typically paid 90 percent on average for the past decade. But the district had argued that a strict 90-10 percent split would encourage employees choose the costliest plans. The recommendation suggests a premium increase of more than 10 percent in a year should trigger new negotiations.
•The district should pay for a specialized type of body scan as part of its annual physicals. Doing so could “certainly serve to reduce job-related illnesses or injuries, which will reduce service-connected disability retirements, as well as reducing workers compensation payouts,” Stokes wrote. “Discovering illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, etc., earlier can lead to shorter recovery time.” The body scan should be part of an overall fitness and wellness program in which participation should be required, Stokes wrote.