Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A labor dispute in Uniontown, Pennsylvania has resulted in an arbitration panel ruling that the city must rehire laid off firefighters, and stop plans to lay off the remainder of the department at the end of the year.
The ruling issued on September 24, 2010 will block the attempt by the city to create an all-volunteer department to save money. According to media sources, Mayor Ed Fike, who originally sought to eliminate the career firefighters, now plans to use a Federal grant to help fund the restored positions.
The arbitration ruling also gave the firefighters a contract through 2014.
