Firefighters union disrupts opening of new Tacony station in protest of Nutter
About 200 activists from Philadelphia's firefighters union disrupted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the city's first new fire house in 15 years by staging a walkout as an opening prayer was being said and chanting their criticisms of Mayor Nutter outside the $6.7 million station in Tacony.
Firefighters union disrupts opening of new Tacony station in protest of Nutter
Sean Collins Walsh
About 200 activists from Philadelphia’s firefighters union disrupted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the city’s first new fire house in 15 years by staging a walkout as an opening prayer was being said and chanting their criticisms of Mayor Nutter outside the $6.7 million station in Tacony.
Union representatives said they will begin collecting signatures for a petition to hold a recall election for the mayor, who has appealed a series of legal decisions that would award retroactive pay raises and other benefits to the firefighters, who have been working without a contract since 2009.
Nutter, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison and even a Catholic priest had to raise their voices to be heard over the chants of "Re-call, re-call" and "bind-ing, bind-ing," the latter referring the binding arbitration awards that Nutter has twice appealed.
While opening new fire houses is something the union has been asking for, it protested the event to show their continued displeasure with Nutter's policies.
One carried a sign displaying an acronym for the mayor’s name: “No Good, Ugly, Two, Timing, Evil, Rat.”
After the event, Nutter said that he respected the firefighters’ 1st Amendment right to protest and that he wanted to celebrate the opening of the new station, at Magee and Keystone.
“It’s America. People have many opportunities and certainly a right to express themselves in a variety of fashions. The community folks may not have been too happy about their timing, given that they were celebrating their new station,” Nutter said. “I’m staying focused on doing my job each and every day and people will do whatever they said they’d do.”
- Tourists don't come to Philly to see City Hall they come to see Independence Hall. Nutter has lost 3 times now and the legal fees are climbing past what it would have cost to pay the raises. The only ones winning this fight are the lawyers
— Sage Advice - The city is NOT POOR. In the arbitration hearing the arbitrator looked over the city finance records and saw that the city gave the police an even MORE expensive contract.
— TheGreek1979 - @citylumberjack The people of Tacony wanted that firehouse, to replace the old one that was torn down just for an on-ramp to 95 and we were without it for over 2 years. How would you like to lose your local firehouse and have to wait extra minutes for the fireman to come from somewhere else.— RichH
- all public city and state unions should be disbanded. stop waste!— Richard Burns
- Any time you work for the government, you are expected to work and not go on strike if you are police, fire, EMS or work for the US Government. If you do not want this, then go look for job in private sector, union or non union.— Aces high
- Who's talking about a strike ? Please re-read article — Sage Advice
- Nutter SUCKS! Worst Philly mayor EVER! F-ing disgrace!— dundermifflin
- Any Time a Mayor stands in front of a Law firm and demands the back taxes it owes the city or he will foreclose on there building, he is a firm and good mayor looking out for all of the city and so they may be able to some day pay a raise and fund schools a little better! — Richard Burns
- These guys havent had a raise in years, that real sad. Nutter is nutz!— CHARLES MANSON
- Right on Mr. Burns!!!!! And you can add the teachers too!!— oneway
- This comment has been deleted.— rombola67
- Any you can thank Philly firefighters for laying it all on the line to keep that number low. — Sage Advice
- the few that actually work...yes. — KYS24
- it is really hard to understand the firefighters beef with the Nutter. As Aces High commented, where do these people think they work? They should be resting up to fight the arson that is happening.— Paul Deon
- i'm anything but pro-union, but these guys are actually highly underpaid. nutter recently found an *extra* 30 million dollars to put into parks and recreation, but refuses to give these guys a 3% raise (their starting base salaries start in the 30s). i'm sure playgrounds are 'very important' but the raises for these guys should be a higher priotity.— Zero
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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