r/Firefighting • u/IronWolfBlaze • Apr 24 '25

News Winston-Salem Firefighters: Underpaid, Understaffed, and Now Losing Their Sick Time— I heard you sir, have a seat.

Winston-Salem firefighters are facing a full-scale erosion of their pay, staffing, and safety—and the city is doubling down. Here's what’s happening:

  • No step pay plan means firefighters have no guaranteed path to raises. They’re stuck in vague pay bands, creating pay compression and forcing many to leave for better-paying departments.

  • Staffing was slashed from 89 to 79 per shift, well below the 4-person-per-truck standard set by NFPA and IFSTA.

  • Safety 7 and the air supply truck were eliminated, removing key fireground safety support and equipment resupply.

  • Sick time cut in half—from 288 to 134 hours a year. First-year vacation time also slashed from 240 to 112 hours. Even senior firefighters with 20+ years lose hundreds of hours.

  • They’re paid 4–7% less than comparable departments in North Carolina despite facing more fires and longer shifts.

  • Union President Parrinello was shut down at a city council meeting while trying to speak: “I heard you, sir. Have a seat.” —Mayor Allen Joines

  • Meanwhile, Greensboro staffs 156 per shift. Winston-Salem does more with less and still gets punished for it.

  • Firefighters are taking second jobs after 24-hour shifts just to get by—this isn’t just morale. It’s a public safety issue.

Full articles here: https://archive.ph/kjuy9
https://archive.ph/7Svig

Watch the mayor shut down the Union President. https://www.youtube.com/live/fYXwPz5VwOw?si=q5WTCgW5HMCwgQSl&t=1h16m5s

212 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

128 comments sorted by

View all comments

65

u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 Apr 24 '25

Guess it is time to take a hard look at what your job actually is

And stop doing any of the extras. Wash the truck?

Naw. That seems like maintenance. Traffic control? Seems like a dot/roadworks problem.

Cover a shift? Will, the city management better figure that out. Probably the council is probably going to have to staff the truck themselves. 

16

u/RPKhero Apr 25 '25

I like where you're going with this. But, if they have a minimum manning, like many departments do, now you're talking mandatory overtime getting dished out. Which might be ok for a little while because sometimes OT is nice. But, take it from me, a guy with a family and who was mandated for more than 500 hours of OT last year. It's not as nice as it may sound.

23

u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 Apr 25 '25

No no. The city council was very clear. This is to make compensation fair across the board. Are they mandating the Secretaries?  The dog catcher?

You can’t have it both ways. Compensation (sick time/ vacation hours/ pay) are tied to hours worked, or they are not.

And if the policy is everyone in the government is treated the same, then everyone gets treated the same. 

The jobs are the same, or they are not.

Now, you and I might say they are very different, but obviously the city council disagrees.