The Associated Press
DETROIT — A union representing Detroit EMTs has reached a contract agreement with Detroit’s state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr.
The five-year deal disclosed Wednesday still must be approved by the state. Reports say it includes a 2 percent pay increase beginning in 2014 and marks the first union agreement with Orr during the city’s municipal bankruptcy filing.
Joseph Barney of the Police Officers Association of Michigan is the representative for EMT union members. He says “Somebody’s got to go first and take that first step.”
Orr discussed the deal Wednesday at a meeting of the Detroit chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. Orr says that the agreement “indicates our willingness to reach an agreement with an interested party that wants to work with us.”