Pittsburgh's Recovery Plan Puts Squeeze on Fire Union

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pittsburgh's proposed fiscal recovery plan is putting a squeeze on the fire union.

If the city adopts the plan by the end of June, it can force the firefighters to cut salaries by 17 percent before the union is allowed to renegotiate its four-year contract in July. However, union officials say there's no way they would make such drastic cuts.

On Wednesday, a fiscal recovery team released a report indicating the city will need to cut salaries by 17 percent and reduce benefits as part of an overall reduction in the city's spending.

Pittsburgh was declared a distressed municipality in December under a law known as Act 47, which gave the city access to things like the recovery team. The plan is needed to fill an expected budget gap of $32 million this year in Pittsburgh's $390 million budget.

Recovery coordinator James Roberts says the city's existing contracts will get bigger because of increasing labor costs.

Fire union attorney Joshua Bloom dismissed the findings, saying Act 47 coordinators patterned the plan after the mayor's plan, which called for cutting 158 firefighter jobs and closing a number of fire stations to save $9.3 million.

``They've adopted the mayor's plan, without question, which didn't do anything to maintain reasonable levels of public safety in terms of fire protection,'' Bloom said.

The recovery plan also calls for employees to begin contributing 15 percent toward their health coverage. That's something Bloom says the city cannot do.