Seeking Raise, Firefighters Will Reopen Contract.

Now the firefighters want their retroactive raise of nearly 10 percent, too. One day after an arbitration panel awarded New York City's police officers a raise amounting to 9.7 percent over two years, the Uniformed Firefighters Association said on Tuesday that it would exercise its option to reopen its contract covering the same two years -- 2004 to 2006. The firefighters received raises of less than 3 percent the first year and 3.15 percent the second year in that now-expired contract. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]