An independent arbitrator awards Philadelphia firefighters 9% in pay hikes over the next 4 years.
They've been working under an expired contract.
The arbitrator’s award includes no pay increase for the first year, which has already passed. The firefighters will get 3 percent increases in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
The city will continue to pay more than 12-hundred dollars per employee per month to cover health costs until the end of this year. Then, the city will switch to a self-insurance program.
“We cannot afford this. And we are not going to put the citizens of the city through that kind of additional painful process” said Nutter.
One member of the arbitration panel estimates the pay hikes will cost the city 67-million dollars.
The leaders of the firefighters union say the city’s plans to appeal amount to discrimination.
