Firefighters make show of force at City Hall
Hundreds gathered outside of Boston's City Hall on Wednesday, in a show of support for the city's firefighters. The City Council is holding meetings to discuss whether or not to vote for an arbitration award that would give the firefighters retroactive raises to 2006, and a salary increase for drug and alcohol testing. Some Councilor's say that the raise for drug testing is unnecessary, and that the city does not have the money, but others disagree, saying that they want to respect the collective bargaining and arbitration processes. Labor leaders from across the city voiced their support for the contract and the firefighters, saying that rejecting the contract would be like rejecting all of them. The firefighters are the only union that the city has not settled with, and negotiations have been ongoing for four years. The firefighters are due to testify today before the City Council.
See "Firefighters make show of force at City Hall", Andrew Ryan, The Boston Globe, June 2, 2010