Burton, MI -- A battle is brewing in Burton between the city and its firefighters. It all seems to boil down to communication, or the lack of it.
The Burton city firefighters, who have been working without a contract since July, say city administrators aren't responding fast enough to get their issues resolved.
The firefighters union reached a tentative contract agreement with the city of Burton last month. But when the contract was presented to the membership, it was rejected.
Since then, union leaders say they have been trying to meet with city officials but with no success.
"It's about when I make a phone call or when our regional rep, servicing rep, makes a phone call call us back wihtin a reasonable amount of time," said firefighter Gary Kautz.
"I'm not going to deny that we are very busy and our schedules is tight. However, I sent a letter that I will meet with them any day this week. Today, they wanted to meet on the 21st originally, Mr. Kautz did. I said I can meet at 9 or 1 p.m. today because of my schedule," said Burton City Administrator Charles Abbey.
Firefighters say they will hold an informational picket at tonight's city council meeting.
Burton city officials say they're available to meet with firefighters any time this week to get any issues resolved.
The firefighters union won't say exactly what the issues in question are.
