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Omaha Mayor offers new plan to Fire Union, with Friday deadline

Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert has made an offer to the Professional Firefighters Association that she says could avoid layoffs.

The Memorandum of Agreement was sent Tuesday to Local 385. Mayor Stothert says the 19 layoffs won’t happen in January if a paramedic class scheduled to begin this December begins instead in December 2014, with 12 students. A 2015 class would also have 12 students instead of 24.

According to the agreement, firefighters hired as of November first won’t be laid off in 2014…or in 2015, if the Fire Department is within one-half percent of its budget. The memorandum also addresses the number of rigs in service in 2014 and 2015.

Mayor Stothert has given the Fire Union until Friday to respond to the Memorandum of Agreement. A news release from her office says if the agreement isn’t in place by noon Friday, the 19 layoffs announced earlier this week will happen.