Firefighters ‘simply struggling’ as Wabash Township stalemate hits 2 weeks
Trustee Jennifer Teising, fending off calls to resign, says she’s ready to negotiate a contract. Firefighter: Trustee ‘kneecapped us,’ leaving township without full fire service for two weeks.
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How far have negotiations come since Wabash Township firefighters voted that it wasn’t worth working under Trustee Jennifer Teising anymore?
Try: Not very.
Two weeks ago today, June 29, Teising followed through with layoffs of the township’s three remaining, full-time firefighters.
On Monday, in a township depending on a few volunteers and firefighters from surrounding departments, Teising said she was open to contract negotiations. But she admitted those hadn’t happened, yet.
“I mean, we're seated at the table,” Teising said. “They have an open invitation, and we look forward to working with them. I'm sure that it will be resolved soon.”
Susannah Hall-Justice, a Lafayette attorney now representing the firefighters association, said Teising had presented no contract proposal as of Monday.
Meanwhile, volunteer firefighters are struggling about whether to go on runs and worried about a situation and a trustee that have “kneecapped” them.
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