That meant, just to get to average pay, firefighters needed a minimum of 15% increase in total compensation for one year. Well, it took four years, but by 2006, firefighters in Glendale had reached that average pay level, which was the reason for the steep increase in compensation. The increase was steeper than normal because the city was playing catch-up. The fact was that an avalanche of employees were on the precipice of leaving, and the contract approved by the City Council in 2002-06, the exact years corresponding to Molano’s chart, kept our employees here. We were on the verge of becoming a second-rate department, training firefighters to work elsewhere.
I was one of those people who was offered a position with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, but chose to stay and get involved here in Glendale, making this a better place to serve the public. It was a sound business decision. Employee retention is the hallmark of any well-run organization. And what has been the result of that business decision? Since 2002, we have graduated 68 firefighters from academies. Five have left for other fire departments, a 75% reduction in attrition.
Mike Mohill managed to be particularly offensive when he stated, “When’s the last time you read about a firefighter suffering an injury on the job, or losing his life in a war?”
Well, in 2008, there were 114 on-duty deaths to firefighters, roughly one every three days. Not to mention 9/11, when 343 died in minutes. They died from heart attacks, traffic accidents while responding to emergencies, in fires or collapses of structures, or getting hit by vehicles while operating at the scene of an accident.
