Local 22 drops effort to recall Nutter

Days after members of Local 22, Philadelphia’s firefighters union, expressed interest in recalling Mayor Michael Nutter, union President Bill Gault is pulling back.

“After carefully weighing our realistic odds of prevailing in an uphill and costly legal battle, Fire Fighters Local 22 is dropping its planned recall effort of Mayor Nutter,” his statement reads.As WHYY’s Dave Davies pointed out earlier Thursday, the recall provision of the city charter was nullified by the State Supreme Court decades ago.

But just because a recall wouldn’t have worked doesn’t mean Local 22 is any less up in arms about the union’s ongoing contract battle with the mayor.

“This decision should in no way be construed as a softening of the fire fighters’ and paramedics’ disdain for this callous mayor, who continues to defy the law by denying our members their binding arbitration award, which was upheld twice by a neutral arbitrator and once by a Common Pleas Court judge,” Gault wrote.

Firefighters were out in full force in Tacony Tuesday for the opening of the new Engine 38 station announcing the need for 45,000 signatures for its now-defunct recall campaign.