Bristol (AP) — After weeks of conflict the mayor of Bristol is relenting and allowing local firefighters to wear pink T-shirts on the job as part of a fund-raiser for breast cancer research.

Mayor Arthur Ward had opposed requests by unionized firefighters to wear the shirts for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, arguing the city could support only so many causes. Firefighters, cancer survivors and other town residents pleaded with him to change his position.

Ward said at a news conference Thursday that he was reversing the ban. Some Bristol residents had been planning a protest rally for later in the day.

The mayor has had an acrimonious relationship with the firefighters' union, and he has accused it of turning the stand over the pink T-shirts into a political issue.