Thirty-two members of the Chicago Fire Department’s brass resigned their exempt positions Monday and returned to rank-and-file status in a fight over pay and benefits that will cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The bosses will return to their career service ranks of battalion chief and, in one case, paramedic field chief, but will continue to “act up” in their exempt positions. That means the 32 will now be eligible for overtime, holiday pay, duty availability, hazmat and other forms of supplemental and specialty pay afforded to members of the rank-and-file. They resigned en masse at 8 a.m. Monday. They represent more than half of the brass on the fire suppression side of the Chicago Fire Department but just one of roughly a dozen bosses overseeing emergency medical services.