City Hall has just announced that Mayor Nutter is unilaterally freezing all "salary increases, including pay step increases or longevity increases" for municipal workers. The city says it will save $8 million this fiscal year andnearly $80 million over the next five years if the freeze stays in place. Nutter says he can do this because the contracts have expired; Cathy Scott, leader of AFSCME DC 47, has already promised a court action to overturn the freeze.
Here is an important point: these frozen wages do not represent new savings. The salary freeze, increased pay steps, and end to longevity pay are already included in contract proposals offered to city unions, which were counted in the oringinal five-year plan. The interesting twist is that Nutter decided to announce them unilaterally instead of waiting until new agreements are negotiated, which means this announcement could quickly be overturned at the bargaining table.
That move has already been met with raspberries from most of the leadership from city unions; it's also likely to ratchet up pressure on the City Council members to give up their Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) that were scheduled to take effect in the next fiscal year. Nutter doesn't have the power to freeze City Council's salaries, because they are independent elected officials.
Whether the freeze will stay in place for city workers is a big "if." The city is currently in arbitration hearings with the unions representing police officers and firefighters. These are the employees who benefit the most from longevity increases-- which are payments made to workers based on their length of service-- and the arbitration panel could easily overturn the freeze put in place by Nutter. In fact, if patterns from previous arbitration awards hold, longevity increases could actually increase. Nutter probably has a better shot at holding the line with non-uniformed employees, since he actually can bargain with them during contract neogtations.
That said, Nutter's announcement could be a sign of things to come. If the state legislature fails to approve increasing the Philadelphia sales tax from 7% to 8%, Nutter will be forced to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the city budget-- in an extremely short amount of time. That means mass layoffs of city employees, cuts to major outside contracts, and the shutdown of numerous city facilities.
All of these actions would be taken unilaterally by Nutter and there would be very little the unions, City Council, or public could do to stop him.
Wow so you mean union electricians, who already make something like $500 every time they plug in an extension cord, aren't going to get to see that fee raised to $600? How will they ever survive?— LibertyNow- It's not those unions, LibertyNow. Those are the trade unions. These are the city employee unions representing people like social workers, accountants, trash collectors, L&I inspectors, etc.— Valley Twin
- Are the citizens of Philadelphia sure that they elected a democrat? We need this guy as PA's governor!!! Go Nutter!— fafafohi
- Nutter's back is against the wall. He wouldn't do this if there were any other alternatives.— Carpe Diem
- Nutter needs to terminate 30% of the city workforce IMMEDIATELY... this should have been done years ago. Next, shut down all non-essential city facilities IMMEDIATELY. Third, Cut all union wages by 10%. Finally, CUT the city wage tax in half IMMEDIATELY and reduce the sales tax to 5% as this will INCREASE tax revenues.— BFlint
- You never TAX your way out of a recession... we have always CUT taxes to spur economic development... the Democrats will be out of power in 2010 if they think they can raise our taxes in this recession. Go to the next Tea Party in Philly if you want LOWER taxes.— BFlint
- Armageddon inexorably approaches...— whatthe?
Comment removed.- Don't worry - they will get their raises. In Philly, the unions are like The Godfather - they have all the judges and politicians in their pocket "like so many nickles and dimes". With the Dictatorship of the Judiciary that we now have, a judge will tell the elected officials to shut up and impose their will.— fafafooey
- What's going to happen when they cut 30% of the lazy-rears and productivity increases? I think they should farm out everything except fire/police. You could have 50 people doing the work of the current dopes. And does city councile, making well over 100 grand a year, really need a COLa increase?— Phils_World_Champs
- Comment removed.
- To LibertyNow, union electricians are not part of the City work force. "Blame" Johny Doc— Smiley77
- wyno4, don't be upset. Take yet another Civil Service test you never know you might pass this time, but you will have to move into the city.— Smiley77
- If this was all part of the 5-Year Plan, why are the unions acting like it's the first time they heard this. Its just fodder for posturing on their part. These city workers need to take a long hard look at the government workers all around them in NJ and PA. Wage freezes have been enacted as a means to avoid layoffs. Unless the unions want to see their ranks diminished (and thus their dues collected) they need to wake up and recognize reality. Three cheers for the Mayor.— I Want Philly to Grow
MONEY AND JUSTICE DON'T MIX
WILL THE NEW COUNCIL GIVE YOU A SAY?
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Contact:
Doron Taussig:
215-854-5307
doron.taussig@gmail.com
@dorontaussig
Holly Otterbein:
215-854-5809
hm.otterbein@gmail.com
@hollyotterbein
Juliana Reyes:
215-854-5855
juliana.f.reyes@gmail.com
@juliana_f_reyes
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