Nutter charted this course with the recent agreement with the police union. Now the large, blue-collar union, AFSCME District Council 33, has agreed to a one-year deal providing a sizable signing bonus of $1,100, while holding the line for now on the city's health-care contribution to the union and raises.

It was a surprising turnaround after District Council 33 leaders just last week turned down a one-year offer that called for a one-time bonus but no salary hike. Naturally, the city's trash, road and water crews would have liked to get the 5 percent total hike that the police got.

Now the pressure is ratcheted up on the white-collar union, still staking its hopes too high. AFSCME District Council 47 leaders last week asked for the same raises as the police, and more in benefits - even if they don't risk their lives like the cops.

In negotiations with municipal workers, Nutter needs to take aim at reducing the city's benefits burden. On wage increases, he needs to be fair to employees while taking into account the sputtering economy and city needs. (The same holds true for firefighters, whose contract, like police officers' will be reached through arbitration.)

Under the police contract announced July 10, Nutter was able to meet those goals. The one-year deal calls for boosting pay 5 percent. That seems in line with the dangerous work done by the city's 6,285 police officers.

More important, it also reduced by more than 10 percent the city's cost for providing officers' health care. Over the next year, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 will work with city officials on strategies to keep benefit costs under control.

That doesn't exactly square with giving District Council 47 the terms that its president, Cathy Scott, proposed a week ago. Scott sought the same pay hike for desk workers, plus an increase of more than 14 percent in the city's contribution toward her union's health coverage. She says District Council 47's health premiums rise in January, so the city should boost its payments to that level.

All the unions are looking at one-year deals, like the police, that give the new administration time to develop strategies to tackle employee benefit costs. Hard to see how boosting the already generous health premiums in these deals will help.

That doesn't mean the outlook can't improve for city workers in time. With the city installing its PhillyStat system to track government operations, both municipal unions could be in a better position to argue for better deals if the statistics show they are providing excellent services.

Labor negotiators are entitled to reach for the stars, but at some point they have to plant their feet on the ground. Give Nutter credit for treating the unions with respect while trying to tackle the soaring benefit costs that eat up a large chunk of the city budget.

Now is the time for District Council 47 to seek a deal that anticipates rewards for workers for productivity and efficiency gains, while reining in health costs. That would be a win for everyone.