'I'm hearing rumors': Arbitrator sides with firefighters union to enforce contractual obligations

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Two years ago, Houston firefighters received a billion-dollar settlement in a years-long contract dispute with the City of Houston for raises and back pay.

A few months ago, arbitration documents show that the city and the firefighter union went to arbitration because the city wasn't implementing obligations under the contract.

Councilmembers appeared caught off guard during Tuesday's meeting. One council member openly asked the finance department whether the firefighters' union had taken the city to arbitration a few months ago and whether the city had lost.

All things ABC13 has learned are true, as we asked city leaders why this information wasn't relayed to council members or taxpayers.

"I'm hearing rumors we lost that arbitration," Councilmember Fred Flickinger said. "Are you able to speak on if they won on the step increase?"

Councilmember Fred Flickinger demanded answers on an arbitration case with the firefighters' union he didn't know about. The city finance department said during that questioning that they would all be briefed on the situation.

"Results came a few weeks back, and the city has been working to implement the arbitration," Houston Professional Firefighters Association President Marty Lancton said.

Arbitration documents confirm a two-day hearing was held in January about this.

The mayor's office told ABC13 the administration had already begun briefing members individually, which they say is usual.

"This process is really just about the enforcement of provisions that were already in the contract that were either not implemented, or there may be some confusion or issues with the implementation stage," Lancton said. "It's not an adversarial thing. It's not intended to be. It's intended to be something that solves a problem."

The arbitrator's opinion says the City of Houston failed to provide firefighters with a pay raise after IT secured additional revenue under a new state law.

The opinion says the budget did not include the revenues because the bill was pending at the time of budget adoption. But this past September, the law went into effect and it provides the city with unbudgeted revenue generated by HFD.

Documents say the revenue is between $13 to 15 million, and the arbitrator says it's sufficient to cover the 3% increase already agreed to by the city.

"There are things the finance department chose not to do, but that did fall within the contract, so we have to make sure we're following the terms of the contract," Lancton said. "The firefighter step increases are not an additional cost because in the contract we put in there to identify with the city new revenue. It is what the arbitrator identified, and the other issues are things the city had not implemented within the contract, so it's more of an enforcement type mechanism."

Houston Mayor John Whitmire sent a statement to ABC13 as we asked questions about this situation:

The City of Houston unanimously approved the firefighters' contract. Both sides later went to arbitration to clarify a provision tied to additional revenue. The contract requires adjustments if new revenue is identified, and the arbitrator ruled in favor of the fire union due to some increased fees enacted by the Texas Legislature. This reflects the cost of maintaining a strong Houston Fire Department, which was severely understaffed before I became mayor.

The arbitrator says the city must now immediately adopt the 3% pay raises for all classified members at HFD, and pay back all unpaid 3% raises since September 2025.