Firefighters union may picket Menino's speech

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/11/union_may_picket_meninos_speech/

By Donovan Slack and Megan Woolhouse
Globe Staff / January 11, 2008

The Boston Firefighters Union has applied for a permit to picket Mayor Thomas M. Menino's state of the city address on Tuesday.

Union officials said last night they had not decided whether to stage a picket but were "looking very closely" at the idea.

"There's a strong probability that there will be a firefighter presence at the State of the City," said Edward Kelly, president of Local 718, who declined to talk about the contract dispute believed to be spurring the picket.

Local 718 has been working without a contract since July 2006. Negotiations broke down last year. City officials refused to give firefighters a 21 percent raise over four years in exchange for allowing random drug and alcohol testing and other concessions.

Boston police officers, who agreed to a 14 percent raise over four years, are randomly tested for drugs and alcohol.

The firefighters union has been under intense scrutiny since two firefighters died in a West Roxbury restaurant fire last August. Autopsy reports indicated one had a blood alcohol content of .27, and the other had traces of cocaine in his system.

FULL story at link.