The dispute centres on the fire union's plan to hold on to most of the sixty million dollars it was given by the public in the wake of September the eleventh.Each firefighter's widow would get a one-off payment of just twenty thousand dollars and then every year, they and each surviving child would get an additional three thousand dollars from the interest generated by the money being invested. But the relatives of the eighty-five single firefighters who died in the World Trade Centre would get nothing at all.
The union's plans, say the firefighters' families, is unfair and doesn't reflect the wishes of ordinary people who they believe donated the money to help them with their losses.
The row is the latest in a series of fights between charities and relatives over who should get financial help and when. The families say the fire unions should keep only about three million dollars and distribute the rest, and that the union is humiliating them by implying that they couldn't manage a large amount of money.
The Attorney General's office says it will look into the dispute and the union's plans for the money it was given.
Jane Standley, BBC
