The Jackson firefighters union called the conditions the City Council placed on its acceptance of a grant to hire nine firefighters "unreasonable" and "detrimental to our membership."
"The city of Jackson council and mayor have failed the residents, business owners and firefighters of the city," Scott Stoker, president of the Summit-Jackson Professional Firefighters Union Local 1306, said in a statement.
The city is "again misleading the public," the union contends, and looking for the union to fund the hiring of new firefighters – almost entirely paid for by the $1.67 million grant – through cuts to wages and pension benefits, which already have been reduced.