ABOVE: Danville Firefighters Local 429 president Easton Hoskins addresses the City Council in February.
The Danville City Council has voted down a proposed four-year deal for Danville Firefighters Local 429, which would have been retroactive to May 1, 2025. Union president Easton Hoskins stated that he is very disappointed in the vote’s outcome, and that this is the “second time” that the firefighters thought they had a pending deal, but did not receive approval.
It was back on December 19th that the union approved the proposed deal. But the City Council’s vote was removed from the January 6th agenda, with the stated reason, Easton recalled, being that not all Council members had read the proposed agreement due to a stated “server issue.”
Training file photo from April, 2025
In the 7-5 vote that came Wednesday evening; “yes” votes came from Aldermen Mike O’Kane, Sheron Pickering, Tricia Teague, Jon Cooper, and Barry Johnson. “No” votes came from Eve Ludwig, Jaleel Jones, Doug Ahrens, Ed Butler, Caroline DeToye, James Poshard, and Mike Puhr. Tom Hightower abstained; Rick Strebing was not present.
Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr has told CIMG that negotiations will resume, and that there are “several items where we’re not agreed that we need to revisit.”
Local 429 has told CIMG that they “have an agreement with the city” approved by their union on December 19th; and they will explore all options to enforce that agreement.
