New Orleans mayor spared house arrest threat in dispute with union

(Reuters) - New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has been spared house arrest on weekends after the Louisiana Supreme Court said he could remain free while appealing a contempt-of-court order in a decades-old dispute over back wages owed to firefighters. The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a district court, which had threatened Landrieu with house arrest if the issue was not resolved, had "abused its discretion." Civil District Court Judge Kern Reese earlier this month held Landrieu in contempt in the squabble over back wages for firefighters that went unaddressed by the city through several mayoral administrations. Under a 1980s judgment, the city owes firefighters $75 million in back wages, plus $67 million in interest, because of the city not giving firefighters raises required by state law. Under Landrieu, the city had offered five proposed payment plans to satisfy the $75 million, but firefighters rejected them, the administration said. Negotiations continue. "Since 2010, when Mayor Landrieu took office, the firefighters have received their pay raises each and every year," said city spokesman Brad Howard. "This case is about back pay over due pay raises over the last few decades." As Landrieu faced a deadline for his house arrest late last Friday, the state Supreme Court stayed the order from taking effect. The president of the firefighters union, Nick Felton, said his organization planned to fight the city's appeal of the contempt order. "Firefighters aren’t going to back down, plain and simple," he said. New Orleans is under federal consent decrees ordering costly reforms to its prison and police department, and is also struggling to afford more police officers and make street repairs. (Reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Fla.; Editing by Eric Walsh and Peter Cooney)