Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert says no agreement has been reached with the Professional Firefighters Association, and layoffs of 19 firefighters will proceed.
In a news release, Mayor Stothert says the city agreed to part of Local 385’s counter-offer to cut the size of the 2014 paramedic training class to nine members. The city’s counter-offer says there would be no firefighter layoffs in 2014 or 2015.
Mayor Stothert says she wants to hear from the Fire Union soon regarding the counter-offer.
"We put no expiration date on the offer we made today. However, we have been dealing with this for over four months now, and we expect this to be resolved soon, and so there is no expiration date on here, but we will proceed with the layoffs until we reach an agreement."
At a news conference Friday morning, Fire Union president Steve LeClair called for a long-term agreement.
"We are committed to reaching a long-term solution that will best protect the citizens of Omaha. We know from our research that maintaining a good quality of emergency services that Omahans have come to expect is a primary concern for the citizens that we serve every day."
LeClair said Local 385 is reviewing the city’s counter-offer. The original offer had a deadline of noon Friday.