Mount Pleasant, South Carolina – Mount Pleasant firefighters will finally get their well-deserved pay rise after the Mount Pleasant Town Council’s decision on Tuesday.
The initial plan was voted without any changes meaning that all the council member voted for the pay rise and one-time bonus for the fire workers.
The town’s Human Resource Committee’s report, called the “Class and Compensation Study,” states the one-time bonus is based on the town hall’s closure between March 17 and May 31, 2020, during which some employees continued to work.
Criteria such as exposure to COVID-19 and workload during that time will determine how much of the maximum $2,500 employees can get, and that will be the total after taxes are taken out, according to the proposal.
Apart from the one-time bonus, the firefighters will get their pay increased for 12%. The increase is just a start as other city workers will get pay increase in the upcoming period.
Those employees who are currently getting paid average or above average of what sems to be market average pay will get 3% increase, while those who are currently paid under the market average will receive higher increase.
The latest council decision for pay rise comes after the Professional Fire Fighters Association of South Carolina pushed the town in August asking for pay increase.
“When salaries don’t go up, what happens to your employees? If you’re not doing it and other places are, why are you going to stay here?” PFFASC Vice President William Pesature said. “You know, listen, everybody knows you’re not going to get rich being a firefighter, but you should be properly compensated for what you do and the hours you put in, and they’re not.”
Firefighters should receive the increased wages in November.
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