Fire union prez calls out mayor, attorney

In yet another round of the Jun Choi versus Edison Township firefighters, the township has been found in contempt of court for failing to follow a court order upholding an arbitrator's decision that the town is required to provide firefighters with station uniforms under the terms of its contract with the firefighters union.

State Superior Court Judge Frank Ciuffani signed an order last month requiring the township to immediately provide the necessary uniform items for the nearly 90 firefighters that are affected.

In May 2008, the township and the township's firefighters union entered into an agreement via an arbitrator with hopes of resolving the issue.

"Since the judge issued his ruling, I haven't heard one word from administration, and their attorney [Mark Ruderman] is a total idiot," said Robert Yackel, president of the Edison Fire Fighters Association. "They've been giving us the runaround for so long, and it's totally ridiculous already. The uniforms are required by OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration]."

Ruderman wasn't available for comment by press time.

Yackel also said that the necessary money for the uniforms, valued at approximately $175 each, according to Yackel, has been appropriated by the council.

"I want to know why this is so hard when the money is there. It's available," Yackel said.

The uniforms are only good for so many washings until the retardancy wears away, according to Stu Miller, a spokesman for the association.

"This is only going to turn into a bigger problem, the longer that the firefighters do not have the necessary gear," Miller said.

Jerry Barca, communications director for Edison, said Friday that at some point this week, the township will file a motion asking the court to reconsider the ruling.

"The judge never heard from the township on this matter and the information that was provided to him was full of inaccuracies," Barca said. "Had there been any communication at all on this matter, this could have been easily resolved. But instead, the union ran straight to the judge.

"Yackel and his union executive board will continue with falsehoods, and they'll do anything but work for the betterment of Edison Township."

At one point in time, Yackel supported the Choi administration, but the relationship has become severely strained over time.

"We used to support Choi but he did nothing for us at all," Yackel said. "He started [complaining] about previous administrations when he's really the worst mayor we've had," Yackel said.

"Some of the firefighters have uniforms from as far back as 2005. We'll go back to the judge and put him [Choi] in jail if we have to for not following orders. And the fire chief [Norman Jensen], he's just as bad. No wonder why Choi brought him back out of retirement."

Jensen was unavailable for comment.