Firefighters, friends & family rally downtown Asheville, NC for pay equity

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    ASHEVILLE, NC (WLOS ) — Rain didn’t stop members of the community from coming out to support the Asheville Fire Fighters Association’s fight for higher and equitable pay over the weekend.

On Sept. 12, members of the association, family and friends gathered in Pack Square, holding signs, asking the city for higher wages.

In several social media posts, the association says Asheville City Council voted to pay city employees $15 per hour earlier in 2020. They say that decision left out 77 firefighters who still make less than $15 per hour.

Scott Mullins, the association’s president, says the $11.65 an hour firefighters make is not enough for the work they do.

“Councils says they appreciate the work that we do but their budget says otherwise,” Mullins told News 13 on Saturday. “So when we look at their budget it shows us they don’t appreciate the actual work we firefighters do.”

He says this has been an ongoing issue and they have reached out to city council to support their pay equity initiative.

“Your Asheville Fire Fighters put their lives on the line every day for the community and deserve pay equity with other City of Asheville employees,” the association wrote in a social media post.
In August, the firefighter’s association called on community members to urge city officials to raise their wages.

City officials have said the work and job responsibilities of a firefighter cannot compare to other city employees.

Peggy Rowe, Special Assistant/HR to the City Manager issued the following statement in August:

“As an employer, the City of Asheville values its workers by paying living wages and offering benefits that ensure both security and opportunity. As part of a total compensation study, the Archer Company was asked to assist the City of Asheville to provide recommendations on moving all City employees to a minimum annual salary of $31,200. This is the equivalent of $15 per hour for a 40 hour work week. Employees making less than this annual salary were moved to this amount toward the end of last fiscal year based on these recommendations.”

“No firefighter in the City of Asheville earns less than this annual amount. A Firefighter Trainee currently starts his or her career with the City at $32,630.52 annually. After 6 months when the training is complete, the firefighter receives a salary increase to $33,935.72 annually.”

“The total compensation study will provide information on firefighter salaries relative to market, as well as salaries of other positions within the City. Once the study is finalized considerations can be made as to how and when to move forward with implementation of the consultant’s recommendations. Given the uncertainty of the budget, we do not expect to move forward with the implementation during this fiscal year. We expect the consultant’s report to be final early in the fall.”

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