Represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 3756, also known as the Loudoun Career Fire Fighters Association, the firefighters’ three-year contract represents Loudoun County’s first ever collective bargaining agreement with public employees.

After three days of voting, 86% of the 247 members who voted cast their ballots in favor of the contract, IAFF Local 3756 President John Myers told the Times-Mirror. The chapter represents about 650 career firefighters, fire marshals, medics and public safety communicators within the Loudoun County Combined Fire and Rescue System, according to an April 28 press release from the union.

Negotiations between county staffers and union representatives lasted for 16 months and wrapped up in late February, Myers said. The final contract includes several key priorities that union members identified in a poll.

If approved by county supervisors, uniformed fire and rescue personnel will receive a 12.4% raise, he said, and fire marshals will receive a 19.6% raise. Employees will also get more time off.

“That leave will give you the ability to spend more time with loved ones, seeing that a lot of our members already are spending 24 hours at a time — or a third of their life — at the firehouse itself,” Myers said.

Loudoun County would also “almost double” its compensation matches for members’ retirement accounts, he said. Currently, Myers said the county contributes $20 per paycheck for a total of $520 per year. The contract raises that amount to $1,000 per year, which he said “will help the members build that nest egg.”

The contract is also a “big win” for female members, he said. After having a child, female firefighters would be able to stay on “temporary restricted duty” for up to a year.

“So that way, they’re not having to go into a fire and get all these carcinogens,” he said. “And if they’re doing lactation, those carcinogens they’re not passing on to their newborn child. And it also allows more time for bonding to the mother and child also. So that was something they didn’t have before.”

Additionally, the contract would create a full-time union president position. The county’s fiscal 2025 budget includes a new union representative position for IAFF Local 3756, which will cost $162,284 in recurring local tax funding. Myers, who also serves as a lieutenant for LCFR, said he’s been working the equivalent of “two full-time jobs.”

“I’ll be able to do my full-time job now working for my membership,” he said.

The agreement would also create a labor management committee that will give employees “a seat at the table” when the county creates any new labor-related policies, Myers said. Four LCFR representatives and four IAFF members would serve on the committee and make recommendations to LCFR Chief Keith Johnson.

But some priorities were identified as “non-negotiable,” Myers said.

Many members had said they wanted to go back to working one 24-hour shift every four days instead of every three. However, Myers said that issue couldn’t be negotiated because they can’t require the county to hire more employees.

The union also couldn’t negotiate the county’s health care plan for retirees. Myers said the current plan, which took effect in 2013, provides the amount of coverage based on tenure. Previously, he said, “we were all on the same plan, which was the plan where, when you get hired, the amount you pay for your health care on an active check would be the same amount you paid during retirement.”

Now, for some members who are “closest to retirement,” Myers said, “it’ll be very difficult for them to retire right now because the amount they get is going to cause them a great deal of financial burden to carry when they retire.”

While the union can negotiate the costs associated with a health care plan, he said, they can’t negotiate the plan itself. “So you can’t tell them how to create the plan itself, but we can negotiate on what they say it’s going to cost — the impact of their idea.”

Myers said the county is currently having a third party review its health care plan, and IAFF aims to come back to the bargaining table after that’s complete.

The collective bargaining agreement comes after a years-long effort by union members, Myers said. Municipal employees were previously barred from collective bargaining under a 43-year-old ban, which the IAFF and the statewide Virginia Professional Fire Fighters union successfully lobbied Virginia lawmakers to overturn.

Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly passed a 2020 law that allowed local legislatures to decide whether to allow their employees to negotiate as a unit. The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted on party lines in December 2021 to allow most county employees the option of collective bargaining, joining local legislatures in other populous Virginia counties with left-leaning legislatures, including Fairfax, Prince William and Arlington counties and the city of Alexandria. Those jurisdictions all have collective bargaining agreements with IAFF.

“Luckily, we have a terrific board that supports our employees very much so,” Myers said. “And once it became legal at the state level, we were able to bring it back to our Board of Supervisors and have them approve and work through getting the ordinance itself approved so we could have the bargaining here in Loudoun.”

Separately, the Loudoun County School Board passed its own ordinance allowing teachers to collectively bargain, but the rules around the election process have yet to be finalized. “General government” employees recently voted to be represented by Service Employees International Union Local 512 in their contract negotiations with the county.

Collective bargaining for state employees — including for those employed by “constitutional officers” like sheriffs and commonwealth’s attorneys — remains banned under a segregation-era state law. And even in localities where local legislatures have adopted a collective bargaining ordinance, it remains illegal for public-sector workers to strike.