To the editor:

The Cape Coral firefighters deserve a nod of recognition for recently voting to forgo their raises for next year. These are bad times and bad times call for emergency measures.

These raises were originally in their contract for next year. It’s not often that you hear members of a union band together and decide that even though raises had been legally entered into a contract, that contract could be changed for the betterment of all involved including the public. The freeze in wages, eliminating unfilled positions and not renewing positions that were cut earlier in the year will all help to decrease the city budget.

Again, thank you Cape Coral firefighters for helping to reduce the budget. Maybe others can take direction from you to help us through these bad times.

Sonny Haas

Alva