(Memphis) For months, Memphis firefighters have been silent about city budget cuts, but not anymore.
They are now in on the fight to get their pay restored.
“Protect those who protect you. Do not allow this administration to play politics with public safety,” says Memphis Fire Fighters Association President Thomas Malone on a new YouTube video.
The video is putting the heat on Memphis Mayor A C Wharton’s office.
The Memphis firefighters union is joining the call to get the city’s 4.6 percent pay cut restored.
“These employees have done what is required of them. They still treat them like second class citizens,” says Malone.
With Mayor A C Wharton proposing only 2.3 percent of the pay cut be restored and for only six months, stunned firefighters say they couldn’t keep silent.
They are urging people to call city hall.
The union is also lobbying city council with hopes of getting enough votes to restore the pay cut which they say was promised to be for only one year, and is now going on three.
“I think we ought to be able to be consistent about our word, especially to employees because they have endured a lot,” says City Councilman Harold Collins. “I don’t think the council can wave a magic wand and make everything ok. What we ought to do is force the administration to go back to the table with the bargaining units and figure this out.”
Many council members are holding off, until they review the city’s budget numbers.
But firefighters aren’t holding back.
“I think the council should speak loud and clear, we are not gonna have our employees in the City of Memphis treated like this,” says Malone.
Harold Collins is one of three city council members who sit on the committee to mediate an agreement with the Firefighters Union.
They’ll meet April 29th.
