New Britain herald., 1916-01-27
FIREMEN SEEKING
 INCREASE IN PAY
Ask Boost Of 20 Per Cent. and
 Give Their Reasons

Printed petitions signed by every member of the fire department are
 soon to be distributed $tO members of the common council and the mayor, requesting an increase in their pay of twenty per cent. and setting forth the reasons why it should be granted. The firemen have some sound arguments in favor of the increase and it is felt that they are entitled to more pay.
 Several meetings have been held by representatives from various compan- ies and the matter has been thorough ly discussed from all angles and it was finally decided that an increase of twenty per cent. would not be exor- bitant in as much as it would then bring the pay of the local firemen to a par with the pay in some of the smaller cities and not up to that re- ceiVed in some other cities Inves- tigation on the part of the committee brought forth the information that the New Britain flremen are paid small Ter wages than any other city in the state that can be compared with this place.
 Comparison of Figures.
 In New Britain the permanent men receive $949 per year. The lieuten- ants each receive $1,003. The cap- tains are paid $1,051 per annum and the chiefs salary is $1,400. From the permanent men to the chief, the sal aries here do not compare favorably with other cities of any size. In Stam- ford, a city with about 10000 less in habitants than New Britain, the chief receives $2,O0O. In Meriden the chiefs pay is S1,650. The Waterbury chief gets $2,200 and in Hartford the chief gets $2,700. In New Haven and Bridgeport the chiefs receive $3,000, according to figures in the hands of the committee. In Hartford the cap tains receive s1,4Oo and in New Hav- en their pay is $4.1S per day. The Hartford lieutenants each receive $1,- 400 and the firemen get $1,2OO In Meriden, the committee states, the regular firemen receive $1,06O.
 With the increase such as is asked by the firemen the various salaries would be as follows: Chief $1,6SO; cap- tains, $1,261.20; ieutenants, S1,2OO.6O; and firemen, $1,13S.80. This increase. the committee states would bring the pay about on the level with that in Stamford much less than that in Wa terbury, Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven, and but a very little more than that in the neighboring city of Meriden.
 The local fire department members feel that their past record entities them to some additional considera- ton. In New Britain there is about $ $45, 100000 worth of property to be protected from fire and how well the men do this is demonstrated by the annual reports.
 Oppose Graded Pay.
 Although no action is to be taken on it at present, there is another mat ter which some of thel firemen believe is wrong and that is the graded system of pay for the regular men. The first year in the service a fireman gets $2.2O per day. The second year he receives $40 and the third year he is a full fledged fireman receiving his $2.60. The firemen's argument against this is that as long as the city has the callman service in addition to the permanent men it is grossly un- fair to make a permanent man wait three years for his highest grade pay. It is argued that a callman is in the service a number of years before he is ever appointed a regular. In that time he answers every alarm that the regular men do and consequently gets just as much experience and knows as much about fire fighting as do the regulars. Therefore, when he steps in to the permanent ranks the firernen do not think he should have to begin at the bottom and work Up as though he had never had any experience and was being tried out on probation.