On Tuesday, St. Louis fire officials lauded Acting Captains Licole McKinney and Jessica Jackson as proud examples of women representing the city. But what they didn’t say was the two are captains in name only.
McKinney and Jackson are being denied the pay increase that comes with their ranks because of a decision by the St. Louis Department of Public Safety, according to a Fox2 report.
It’s a decision St. Louis aldermen opposed, unanimously, according to Alderman Joe Vaccaro (Ward 23).
“We 100% agreed,” he said.
“I think it was somewhat disgraceful on the city’s part, because you’re putting a bunch of people out there saying, ‘Look how great we are,’” he told a reporter. “Two of them are African American women that have been on the promotion list and not been promoted, yet they’re acting captains doing the job, not getting paid for the job.”
Currently, there is only one female supervisor in the department.
Disputes over firefighter promotions and tests dates back to 2013 when a federal lawsuit was filed. As a result, an agreement says: “The city will not intentionally delay promotions from the current lists in anticipation of new lists being certified.”
Vaccaro maintains the holdup needs to stop.
“Do the right thing. Promote people who are on that list, and we should be back paying them.”
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