S.D. Council Considers Firefitghter Pay Raise, Other Labor Groups Continue Negotiations

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published April 21, 2008 at 6:43 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Later today, the San Diego City Council will consider the mayor's proposal to give firefighters a 5 percent raise next year. Other city workers are still in labor negotiations, and one of the key stic

Later today, the San Diego City Council will consider the mayor's proposal to give firefighters a 5 percent raise next year. Other city workers are still in labor negotiations, and one of the key sticking points is a new kind of pension plan. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more on changing city salaries and benefits.

Mayor Jerry Sanders has hinted that city employees other than police and fire are out of luck this year when it comes to raises. He's also trying to do away with guaranteed pension benefits and replace them with a cheaper pension plan with defined contributions.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Labor groups are fighting the changes and threatening walkouts if a compromise isn't reached by next month.

City council President Scott Peters hopes the council can sway the mayor to preserve some form of guaranteed benefits.

Peters: We could meet the mayor's objectives with a pension plan that the workers would find palatable and if that's the case we should really look to do that rather than here all this stuff about strikes and walkouts I just don't think that's the best thing for the city.

Under considerable political pressure, Peters says he'll change his vote on the city council's own pay raise, and vote against it today.

Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

twitter

Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.