PITTSBURGH -- City officials battled this past weekend over Pittsburgh's proposed financial recovery plan from the state-appointed Act 47 team.

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Members of the city's nine unions went door-to-door asking residents to urge City Council members in favor of the plan to change their mind before Tuesday's final vote. Union leaders also gathered downtown at the City-County Building to voice their opposition.

City Controller Tom Flaherty said the plan puts the financial burden on workers instead of on the 45 percent of city businesses that are exempt from paying business privilege tax.

In the Hill District, a war of words broke out between Councilman Sala Udin and Joe King, the firefighters' union president.

King believes the fate of many fire department jobs hangs on the Act 47 plan. King and firefighters passed out flyers Saturday, urging Hill residents to convince Udin, their representative, to change his vote on the proposal.

Udin showed up at the rally and used a bullhorn to voice his stance on the issue.

"Joe King is in the Hill District today trying to get black people to save his jobs," said Udin. "Tell Joey King the black people need jobs, too. Hire black people in the fire department."

The two parted ways quietly, but they remained at odds over the part of the plan that calls for seven of the city's 35 fire stations to close. Although the plan does not detail which stations would shut down, King said a plan outlined last year by Mayor Tom Murphy called for a station in the Hill and one uptown to close.

"Seven fire stations need to close," said Udin. "This city can be protected within the four-minute standard with seven less fire stations. That is possible to do."

King counters by saying there are other ways to save money.

"We need to do something, we realize that," he said. "I'm willing to make those tough decisions and come in with some compromise, and I'm sure my brothers in the other unions will as well."

The Act 47 plan is supposed to help rescue Pittsburgh from its distressed status by cutting some $33 million in spending and jobs and adding $41 million in taxes, including an increase from $10 to $145 in the annual occupation tax paid by all people working in the city.