Providence firefighters arbitration to go on as scheduled

By News Staff

news@abc6.com

The Associated Press

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has denied a request from Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza’s administration to shelf an upcoming arbitration hearing with the city’s firefighters.

The ruling means that city and fire officials can proceed with their Dec. 16 arbitration hearing, which stems from a dispute over how much firefighters should be paid given the increase to their average work week from 42 hours to 56 hours per week.

An August amendment to the Providence Fire Department’s scheduling structure has the city moving from a four-platoon system to a three-platoon arrangement in an effort to cut costs.

The city is appealing a lower court decision to authorize the arbitration process and had asked the state Supreme Court to suspend the scheduled arbitration hearing while its challenge was being considered.

(C) WLNE-TV 2015