Flint firefighters are voting on a new contract and the outcome is far from certain. The head of the city’s firefighters union says its chances are 50-50.
Flint firefighters are being asked to approve a new contract that will force firemen to increase contributions to their retirement plan and force them to pay more for health insurance.
“Basically the city doesn’t give us anything. They’re basically just taking away.," says Raul Garcia, the president of the Flint Firefighters Union, "They made us no kinds of offers or incentives for people to leave.”
Flint’s mayor is pressing the city’s firefighters and other unions to agree to deep contract concessions to help ease the city’s budget crisis.
The city of Flint is facing a possible 5 million dollar budget shortfall this year. The double digit contract concessions the mayor is demanding from the city’s unions would cover about half of the projected deficit.
