The city and the firefighters’ union tentatively agreed to a new contract Thursday, one day after the union threatened to picket outside Mayor Paul Heroux’s house.
The pickets have been called off and a cookout the mayor had planned will be held as scheduled Saturday afternoon.
Heroux said the threat of picketing had nothing to do with him agreeing to a new contract, but union President Jacob Springs said he thought it moved the process along. “It absolutely had nothing to do with it,” Heroux said of the agreement and the picketing threat. “The seeds were set weeks ago.”
Springs said the prospect of pickets did impact negotiations.
He said that since the union said it was going to picket, the city put a canceled bargaining session back on schedule and then agreed to a new deal at that session.