Labor opposition continues to grow day by day to state legislation that could free up $700 million for Philadelphia.
For days now, city municipal leaders have said they don't oppose a city sales tax hike and a two-year plan to defer pension payments - measures rigorously sought by Mayor Nutter. But they do oppose other provisions in the same bill - to be considered next Tuesday by the House - that they believe limit their right to pursue pension benefits changes through a collective bargaining an arbitration process.
Philadelphia's AFL-CIO president, Pat Eiding, spoke strongly against the bill in today's Inquirer story, saying: "[Lawmakers] want our money to help them and they want our feet to walk the streets to help them get elected. It's not a threat to anybody, but we want them to respect what little labor laws we have in this country."
Soon, Senate and House legislators will find their mailboxes stuffed with yet another angry letter.
This one is written on letterhead from Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police, but its authors are the surviving spouses and family members of eight Philadelphia police officers killed in the past three years.
"As a result of the 2008-2009 collective bargaining agreement, the FOP was able to secure a pension improvement whereby the pension of slain police officers is automatically increased one rank for purposes of compensation. This improvement not only represents a permanent financial benefit to our families, but a lasting memorial to the appreciation of the citizens of Philadelphia for the sacrifices that we made.
"Although this pension improvement costs virtually nothing in the scheme of things, the current version of (House Bill 1828) would make improvements of this nature illegal in the future!"
Then the letter-writers say this: "We collectively feel that the public expressions of consolation by our local politicians at the funeral services for our loved ones to be disingenuous given the content of this proposed legislation, which they are now seeking to implement. Clearly the economic relief sought by the City should not work to the detriment of the police and their families and/or preclude them from meaningful collective bargaining."
The letter is signed by, Roslyn Harrison, Kim Pawlowski, Jasmine Nazario; Larry and Patsy McDonald, Kathy Simpson, Ann Skerski, Judy Cassidy and Michelle Liczbinski.
Click here for Philly.com's politics page.
Comment removed.
Shabba, what do you do for a living? Just curious.— Smokey- I have to ask myself why are cuts being made to the uniformed employees first, when the cuts to non-essential non-uniformed city employees have not been done in earnest? Nutter has done like 12? All last year other cities, counties, and states did cuts, furloughs, unpaid time off, and frank downsizing. Philly did nothing but pass a cell phone ban that deprives the city of state highway funds. There's something like $425 million in overdue property taxes owed the city, nearly half a billion in lien debt that can be sold at sheriff sale. This is how every municipality does it, and Philly has not done one thing to fix or step up collections. There is forfeit bail owed the city of $1 billion. I'm not totally sure that we must decimate uniformed employee pensions as a first order of business. This seems more political because Nutter and local Dems feel they have less support from these unions? The paper has a duty to call for the city to first collect what it is owed and fix any obstacles to doing that. That goes to the heart of the machine that is local Philly government. I can't understand why a paper that promotes ethics reform is supporting a bill that relies on cuts to life/limb providers without first right-sizing the city, collecting what is owed, and assessing property taxes on real market values. Before doing the severe pension cuts we are embarking on, why not put in AVI and change the millage? Why not collect overdue property taxes and bail at sheriff sale to get started on getting hard cash of $1.5 billion? Why not downsize city government that recognizes that Philly's local tax base can't afford to mimic state and local services? We can't afford a federal style social funding on our tax base. That's no ideology, that is math.— CleanupPhilly
- I support a sensible Plan C that leaves police/fire/EMS/trash services alone, because those are the true purpose of local government. First on the block has to be housing, all free rec centers, all free health centers, all free nursing homes, holding on to all this city property and landbanking with no purpose or result, and collecting overdue revenues by cutting or closing patronage waste departments that don't perform. Period.— CleanupPhilly
- The city has to let the market work where it will work, and stop trying to make everything government owned or controlled housing that pays no property taxes. We have to grow the tax base. Instead of giving this property away to low performing politically connected groups that give money to the Democratic City Committee, this property should be sold. That is what the state should require in this bill. The RDA should sell it's undeveloped property with real estate agents -- all of it. The RDA does more to bankrupt the city than the uniformed employees' pension, though I support some reform. The Dems tried socializing property ownership and just ended up killing itself by killing off a taxable base. Time to remove obstacles the market that pays for this stuff.— CleanupPhilly
- The police and fire unions are going to have to say to the press, "why hasn't the city done one thing to improve the collection of $425 million in overdue property taxes at sheriff sale when this money has been owed for years? Why are party hacks allowed to go into payment plans when they have a high income?" Look at Patrick Kerkstra's article on the subject in the Ink. There are ward leaders, cttee people, Tasco's legal staff, that owe tens of thousands in overdue property taxes, and this doesn't just de-fund schools -- it is the Dems conferring favors that de-fund the city. It's corrupt; it's theft of service; it has to end. If the unions want to prove that the city doesn't need to cut their pensions, the union has to point to what the city can do to get the money owed it. That means the unions have to speak out about historic party abuses of property tax collection and assessment.— CleanupPhilly
- Learn how to spell, Shabba. Bain is bath water. Bane, is ruin. FYI, Unions gave you the 8 hr work day, child labor laws, and the Family Medical Leave Act, any other complaints?— tgwtim071
- Is the aide who stole money from Philadelphia and works for Wilson Goode, Latrice Bryant, still employed by the city?— Sports4Life
- The police and fire officers of this city haved been shorted in their pensions for decades. Go to any comparable city and the police and fire officers get better benefits the our officers and firefighters. Do not cut pension corners for these important city workers who everyday risk their lives and limbs for us.— BillyBob369
- All the results of a dwindling business tax base, fleeing tax paying residents, and an increased demand on services by the residents still living there. This damage was done over the last two decades or so..Nutter has NO chance to fix this problem and it's no different in most other major cities. I do find it interesting though, that in most of those places Demcorats have been in control for decades.— beermoney
- Hey Sports4life..in fact, Latrice just got a salary bump to over 90K a couple weeks ago according to Fox29. Archive the story on their site. Gotta love it!— beermoney
- It is shameful of the unions to roll out dead cops wives for a sympathy ploy. Sorry you folks have to take your lumps like everyone else. And closing health centers is one of the dumbest ideas yet. Not only is it inhumane but it will be costly as then all the uninsured would use 911 and emergency rooms for medical care. Dumb. Yes, we need to cut the size of city government. Do away with at large council people and their staff. Make Nutter cut his staff in half. But the unions have to contribute as well and shameless ploys like Cop widows is not going to win any friends.— Malcolm65
- Cops & firefighters get to moonlight and work a lot of OT to compensate, which is great. But you choose your path and your profession. If death and danger are part of it, then thats the choice in the matter for you and your family. Again most will be moonlighting other jobs, when you work 2 - 24's for 2 weeks or however it is scheduled most get to work other jobs on their downtime and it is accepted, which is great, make more money. But revenue is down, this city government is screwing up and this is the outcome when they subjected themselves to the State and passed the buck. Downsizing needs to happen.— uandwhosearmy
- This is a bunch of union manipulation. Pay your own way like everyone else when they retire.— Fascism Rules
- While its a shame that the officer was killed in the line of duty why must the public be on the hook for the rest of the spouse's life? That is what life insurance is for. In any other profession if you pass away thats it, the family gets some life insurance and the money in the 401k and move on with their life. The taxpayers have enough burdens to pay for we do not need more.— Taxpaying Voter
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