BEAUMONT, Texas — The City of Beaumont met Wednesday afternoon with the Beaumont firefighter's union for the second time this month to negotiate a new contract but were unable to come to an agreement.
Members of Beaumont Professional Firefighters Local 399 previously met with the city on October 8, 2024.
On Wednesday afternoon city officials and union representatives met behind closed doors to negotiate after the city presented it's proposal.
The city previously said that public safety currently accounts for half of the general budget.
Firefighters are now working under an extension to their current contract which they can do for up to a year.
"Our contract expired on September 30 of this year. We are now working under the Evergreen clause," said President of Union Jeff Nesom.
The city’s proposal for wages and pension was 16% divided over four years with a minimum of 2% allocated to pension and no more than 4% combined allocated in any year.
For example if 3% was allocated to wages then the maximum contribution to the pension would be 1% or if 2% was allocated to the pension then the maximum contribution to wages would be 2% according to the city.
A union member could be heard saying "its a joke" as he gestured towards the screen where city officials presented their proposal.
After 30 minutes of closed-door negotiations it was determined that 30 minutes of negotiating was not going to be enough and two more meetings were scheduled.
The city and the firefighters union are now set to meet again on November 6, 2024, at 1 p.m. and on November 12, 2024 at 9 a.m.
WATCH: the entire public portion of the meeting was streamed by the city
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
