St. Louis-area firefighters told not to wear pink

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. -- A suburban St. Louis fire district is banning firefighters from wearing pink T-shirts, saying the shirts -- which support Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October -- are unprofessional.

Dozens of fire districts in the region participate in the Pink Heals Movement, a national effort started by an Arizona firefighter to generate awareness and support for women battling breast cancer. Chesterfield firefighters say they have worn the shirts the last four years.

But two of the three board members for the Monarch Fire Protection District in Chesterfield say the pink shirts aren't professional and could confuse the public, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

"Firefighters are selling these around the community to businesses and whatever," said board member Jane Cunningham. "If they get called to a home, how is the person to ID them as a Monarch emergency firefighter as opposed to a member of the public?"

The makeup of the board changed in the April election, leading to chilly relations between the board and union firefighters, members of the International Association of Firefighters, Local 2665.

"We seem to be going down a road that is pretty unproductive," said Capt. Andy Stecko, shop steward for the Monarch firefighters. "I can understand a board and a union fighting over something like benefits, but this is something completely different."

Stecko said firefighters believe board members balked at the fact that the T-shirts carry the union logo. Last month, the board voted to remove union labels from fire trucks. But Cunningham said she didn't realize the pink shirts had the union logo.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com