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Union leader says 22 firefighter positions were removed from Portsmouth budget and urges council to enact collective-bargaining ordinance
Summary
Tiffany Stewart, a lieutenant paramedic and union vice president, told Portsmouth City Council the budget draft removed 22 requested firefighter positions and criticized the city for citing collective bargaining as the reason without passing a local ordinance; she asked council to restore the positions and write the promised ordinance.
Tiffany Stewart, a lieutenant paramedic who identified herself as executive vice president of IFF local 5 39 representing Portsmouth's firefighters, paramedics and dispatchers, told the city council on April 28 that 22 positions originally requested for the fire department were removed from a later budget draft without discussion.
Stewart said the positions were tied to documented safety citations and to federal and state standards. "Positions that were tied to a documented safety citation have been removed and justified by a process that the city refuses to follow through on," she said,…
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