NEW YORK (AP) Firefighters will get a 17.5 percent raise over four years in a deal announced Thursday by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the head of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
The contract with the union representing 8,900 firefighters is retroactive to 2002 and will also include a lump-sum payment averaging more than $15,000 for each firefighter.
``There has never been any question that these brave men and women deserve a raise,'' said Bloomberg, who announced the contract at City Hall with union chief Stephen Cassidy.
Cassidy called the contract ``a step in the right direction.''
The deal reduces the pay for new firefighters to $25,100 from about $36,000, although new recruits will see their pay go to $32,700 once they finish their training.
The contract will expire in July 2006.
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