Tulsa Mayor, 911 Emergency Workers Union Agree To Wage Increases

Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett will sign a contract with the union representing nearly a hundred 911 emergency employees Tuesday. The contract includes wage increases for the people who man the front lines of the city's emergency response system.

Representatives of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees are meeting with the mayor to sign an employment contract effective through June 30, 2013.

The contract includes call takers and dispatchers who work for the city of Tulsa, not EMSA employees. Union negotiators and Tulsa's city manager agree that the job has high burn out and needed higher pay.

They say this new agreement will not only benefit workers but the city as a whole. 

"When we don't pay our employees sufficient - a fair salary - if we don't support them properly, then the public is shortchanged," said Mayor Dewey Bartlett.

10/17/2011 Related Story: Tulsa Running Out Of 911 Dispatchers

"We still have many, many strides to make to get to where we need to be with employee morale and retention, but this is a huge step and we're all very happy to see it," said Michael Rider, AFSCME union president.

City manager Jim Twombly told the News On 6 in October that the starting pay for emergency dispatchers was too low to attract "the caliber of people who are capable of doing the job and sticking with it."

The new contract includes a 17 percent pay raise for entry-level employees. Current employees will also get raises.