CLEVELAND (WJW) — The FOX 8 I-Team has found Cleveland EMS supervisors are finally getting close to receiving a huge amount of back pay from city hall.

It’s money they’ve been fighting to get for up to seven years.

Think about everything you have done since 2016. Cleveland EMS supervisors said the city has blocked them from full pay and pay raises all that time.

Union representatives said they’ve been battling city hall for back pay since 2016 and for two contracts since then.

They’ve taken the city through legal challenges under labor laws including going to court.

Nothing mattered. Until now.

The union said the city has reached a tentative agreement with the EMS supervisors. It could mean the workers will finally collect about $800,000.

“We gave the city calculations to the members to look over for accuracy. We expect to respond back to the city and, hopefully, get checks issued in a relatively short amount of time,” David Passalacqua, president of the local Communication Workers of America, told the I-Team. “A lot of this carried forth from the previous administration.

“We’re cautiously optimistic. We’re just glad things are starting to progress forward. It’s been a long time. The members have worked hard. They worked in the entire pandemic on 2015 wages; came to work every day. Their dedication should be respected by the city.”

We reached out to the mayor’s office. A spokesperson wrote: “It is my understanding that the 2016-19 contract payments should be going out in the next few days.”

The mayor’s office backed up what the union told us, adding: “They have reached a tentative agreement on the 2019-22 contract and the 2022-25 contract.”

While the EMS supervisors can expect to start seeing their money, the I-Team recently revealed Cleveland police officers have not yet received bonuses announced last year with state money.

The governor’s office awarded money to cities for “retention bonuses” to encourage officers to stay with their police departments.