PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Months of pension concession talks between the city and its public safety employee unions officially ended Friday morning.
Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter approved the final agreements reached between retired and active police and firefighters. The biggest component of the agreements calls for suspension of cost-of-living raises for 10 years.
City officials had said Providence faced possible financial collapse if it continued having to pay those compounding adjustments, known as COLAs.
The agreements headed off a court battle over whether the city had the constitutional right to change pension benefits.
Joseph Penza Jr., representing the vast majority of retirees who had agreed to the settlement, said "I thought we had a strong case legally but it could have been one of those cases where you win the battle but lose the war, driving the city into bankruptcy."