Little Progress in Latest Contract Talks Between City and DC33
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Little Progress in Latest Contract Talks Between City and DC33
Catherine Lucey
Contract talks resumed this morning between the city and AFSCME District Council 33, the union for blue-collar workers, after a break of more than a month. The contracts for the city's four municipal unions expire June 30.
But DC 33 President Pete Matthews said little had changed since their last meeting with the city.
"The city was asking for concessions," Matthews said after the two-hour session, adding that he is "absolutely not" making concessions.
Matthews said the city's offer remained much the same. The city's opening offers to the nonuniformed workers included a four-year wage freeze and major concessions in pension contributions and work rules, as well as a major restructuring of health-benefit plans.
Mayor Nutter has said such changes to employee contracts are necessary due to the city's dire fiscal situation. As part of his budget, which is dealing with a $1.4 billion five-year shortfall, Nutter eliminated money set aside for raises and is counting on getting $125 million in contract savings over the next five years.
Matthews said the unions are already co-operating with the city by supporting one of Nutter's key cost saving measures -- a plan to delay some payments into the city pension fund and extend the city's payment schedule into the fund.
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I say when the trash piles up all citizens should deposit it in front of Matthews and Nutters homes— phillysmart
How much is tha average union worker making here? We need real numbers to judge accurately. These articles always fail to mention specifics..are the workers being asked to remain at an income level of 80k or 40k?- Comment removed.
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- Cleanup - you're wrong. As long as negotiations continue, the city cannot unilaterally implement a new contract. The terms of the old contract continue in force. It's the law. You can look it up.— Smokey
- Cleanup - you're good at misiniformation. The legal plan costs employess $16 per month. It's legal insurance. Anyone, or any group, can get it from law firms. As far as I know, all city employees pay copays for docs and/or prescription. I know that firefighters do. Also, we contribute 5% or 6% of our salary towards our pensions. The city is supposed to do the same. For many years, the city played sleight-of-hand and minimized their pension contribution. This is what has brought us this problem with the pension fund - the liars that figure for the city - Not the employees. Please, start getting your facts straight.— Smokey
- Anyone that wants to look up salaries can go to this site: http://www.phila.gov/personnel/announce/index.html Click on any of the links under "Pay Ranges". All of it is public information. Nothing to hide or spread false information about.— Smokey
- http://www.phila.gov/personnel/announce/index.html After going to this link and looking at salaries, you can view job openings and apply for these jobs. Wonder how many takers?— Smokey
Thank you Smokey for clearing up the "at will" layoffs. The "at will" layoffs is something that Knight-Ridder used with the newspaper guilds in various cities and is something that Tierney used successfully with the Inq/DN out of hatred for anything union. It is NOT a tactic that can be used here. >>>>All city jobs including descriptions and salaries are posted on-line EXCEPT the political hacks hired by the mayor or council. I also wonder how many readers will apply for the jobs? How many people want to handle hundreds and hundreds of pounds of trash EVERY DAY? At what pay? Minimum wage and no benefits (what Walmart pays)? >>>>>>The unions have demonstrated time and again that they can provide and better manage health benefits than the City can. As a taxpayer I do not want the city managing these benefits. I support increasing the size of the employee contributions (yes they contribute now) to the cost of the health insurance but please don't let the city manage the fund. It will cost the taxpayer more than it does now even with the increase in employee contributions.— nebulus- Comment removed.
- There is no more binding arbitration under PICA. If the city doesn't like what the binding arbitration panel awards, they go to court where the judges have to play ball with the city or they don't get re-elected. Guess who wins? BTW, Rendell has always hated firefighters. Don't believe me? Just ask firefighters throughout the Commonwealth. Why? Probably because we know that the emperor has no clothes.— Smokey
- BTW tpsyogaqueen, I'm not defending anyone. Just stating facts, as opposed to the mis-information and half-truths that CleanupPhilly is putting out there.— Smokey
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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