Jefferson Parish officials hired a public relations firm Wednesday to handle what they called an intimidation and misinformation campaign by firefighters with the East Bank Consolidated Fire Department to increase their wages.

Parish Council hired Gambel Communications in a 5-2 vote to run an informational campaign on firefighter pay at a cost not to exceed $50,000 as Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng and her administration engage in a heated, long-standing feud with the union, the Jefferson Firefighters' Association, over raising starting pay from $10.53 to $18 per hour.

"While the parish has tried to negotiate with the union in a good faith effort, we simply cannot afford their demands, and they have chosen a campaign of bullying and intimidation in response," Lee Sheng said in a pr

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