As city unions fight budget bill, Nutter's Plan C looms large

It looks like the city's budget relief legislation may be on shaky ground in Harrisburg.

An anxious Mayor Nutter yesterday slammed union leaders who have been campaigning against pension amendments added to House Bill 1828 by the state Senate. The state House is expected to vote on the legislation Tuesday.

"I think the rumormongering, the deception, trying to scare people, especially our survivor families, has gone over the line," Nutter said, referring to families of police officers who have been slain in the line of duty. He said that the state House must approve the bill - pension language and all - for the city to avoid massive layoffs.

As originally written, HB 1828 would allow the city to raise the sales tax temporarily and to defer some pension payments, moves worth $700 million over five years. But the state Senate amended the bill to include substantial statewide pension reform.

Under the amendments, the state would take over some severely underfunded pension plans and Philadelphia would be required to create a new lower-cost plan for new municipal hires.

"What this bill does is devastate collective bargaining," said John McNesby, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police. "If that's hysteria, we're not going to bend our knees and take it lightly."

A news conference with three of the four Philadelphia unions - police, firefighter and white-collar workers - is set for today. The state police and firefighter unions plan to rally in the state Capitol Tuesday.

Several local state representatives are scheduled to attend today's event, including state Rep. Mike O'Brien, who said that he'll vote no on Tuesday and questioned whether the bill will pass.

"I'm not seeing the votes there," he said.

Johnna A. Pro, spokeswoman for state Rep. Dwight Evans, of Philadelphia, said that Evans was doing everything possible to get the bill passed without changes.

"From our perspective it's a full-court press," Pro said. "We will do everything we can in our power to get this moved out of the House on Tuesday and to the governor."

Nutter said again yesterday that if the bill doesn't pass the state House without changes on Tuesday, he will implement his Plan C budget, which calls for the layoff of 3,000 city workers, including police and firefighters.

"Let me be very clear," Nutter said. "A vote against House Bill 1828 is a vote for Plan C. It's a vote that will put 3,000 people at risk."

Nutter said that he had not advocated for the amendments but that the unions were exaggerating the terms. He said that the new pension plan required of Philadelphia would still be subject to collective bargaining. He also said that he was particularly upset by claims that the changes would hurt benefits for survivors of police officers or firefighters killed in the line of duty.

Nutter said that he had called the survivors of recently slain police officers to tell them that their benefits would not be impacted.

Union leaders were unfazed by Nutter's comments yesterday.

"If he lays off cops and firefighters, it's on him," said Bill Gault, president of the fire fighters union. "He's the one who has to get re-elected."