Burned up over his demands for drug testing while denying them a contract for more than a year, angry Boston firefighters today will charge Mayor Thomas M. Menino with "smearing" them as he seeks to buff up Boston in tonight's State of the City speech.
"Clearly, the city has been systematically attacking us through lies and accusations designed to tarnish our public image," said Edward Kelly, president of Boston Firefighters Local 718. "We will begin to tell our side of the story."
The powerful firefighters union - which showed up in force outside Menino's 2001 State of the City speech in a strong show of anger - will be back tonight as the mayor speaks from inside Dorchester's Strand Theater.
The union plans to "set the record straight" and launch a public information campaign during a press conference at 4 p.m. outside the theater, a few hours before Menino is set to speak about his plans for the new year.
The relationship between Menino and the union has become increasingly strained since the Aug. 29 West Roxbury restaurant blaze that claimed the life of two Boston jakes. In October, the Herald reported that firefighter Warren Payne had traces of cocaine in his system and firefighter Paul Cahill had a high blood-alcohol level, according to officials briefed on the autopsy results.
Kelly had gone to court to try to stop the media from reporting on the autopsy results and demanded a probe into the leak.
Austin Shafran of Sheinkopf Communications in New York, which represents the union, said the firefighters want to bargain in good faith with "even-keeled" negotiations.
Sources say the firefighters are willing to negotiate random drug testing if it was bargained "in good faith."
But Shafran said the city has made that impossible by "tarnishing their image" and engaging "in a plot to smear the firefighters both in the public and in the media."
"Instead of addressing very important public safety concerns, like equipment and personnel and training and lack of funding for those, the city is engaged in a plot to try to smear their reputation so they don't have a leg to stand on during the bargaining," said Shafran, who said the autopsies will be among the topics addressed.
The union has been without a contract since July 2006. The city declared an impasse and filed for arbitration on Aug. 1, and the two sides haven't had on-the-record negotiations since then.
The city wants to randomly drug test firefighters, increase firefighters' health care contribution and limit sick leave, among other things, sources said.
Kelly said there will be a "strong firefighter presence" before Menino delivers his 7:30 p.m. speech.
On the night of Menino's State of the City address in 2001, firefighters picketed outside, and the mayor complained that some allegedly spit at his wife as she headed inside.
Republished with permission from the Boston Herald
