NEW YORK (AP) -- Firefighters who have been working without a contract for more than three years will get a 17.5 percent raise under a deal announced Thursday.þþMayor Michael Bloomberg and the head of the union, which represents about 8,900 city firefighters, said the pact was retroactive to 2002.þþUniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy called the contract ''a step in the right direction,'' but said the city could never pay firefighters what they are worth.þþThe deal is the latest in a string of collective bargaining agreements signed with city unions in the months leading up to Bloomberg's re-election bid.þþEarlier this month, the city announced it would give its teachers a 15 percent raise over four years. Sanitation workers cut a deal for a 17.5 percent pay increase. A state arbitration panel in June awarded police officers a retroactive pay raise of about 10.25 percent.þþMany city employees have been working without contracts or raises since a municipal fiscal crisis after the 2001 terrorist attacks.þþThe firefighters' contract, which still needs ratification by union members, would expire in July 2006. þþ
Source: NY Times
