City workers wages slashed in Scranton, Pennsylvania

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

City workers wages slashed in Scranton, Pennsylvania

By Lily Kuo
Fri Jul 6, 2012 6:48pm EDT

(Reuters) - Firefighters, police and other public workers in a Pennsylvania city saw their wages slashed to minimum wage rates on Friday, in a move by the cash-strapped city to balance its budget, city officials said.

Scranton's public workers would be paid $7.25 an hour "indefinitely" starting with Friday's paychecks as part of a plan initiated by the mayor, Chris Doherty.

Scranton, a city of about 76,000 in the northeast of the state, is the latest Pennsylvania city in serious financial trouble. The Scranton Times-Tribune recently reported the city faces a $16.8 million gap in the 2012 budget.

City leaders in the state's capital of Harrisburg, meanwhile, were prepared to seek bankruptcy protection but were thwarted last week by state legislators who extended a bankruptcy filing ban until November 30.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/06/us-usa-pennsylvania-wages-idUSBRE86513O20120706

[mike_c]

1. may Scranton PA fall into a deep hole and rot....

Balancing their budget on the backs of city workers. Rat bastards.

[wandy]

28. Hay! Watch it. I was born their! But you're right.........

First about the part about the rat bastards. I agree.
Ha! but you are right about another thing.......

Scranton was a mining town. It was back in those good old days before those 'job killing regulations'.
The coal mines were brought so close to the serface that occasionaly a city block or two will..........

Fall into a deep hole and rot!

http://cbceng.com/case-studies-1/pittston-avenue-sink-hole-and-stone-arch-collapse-scranton-pennsylvania

[Honeycombe8]

2. Are the PA state legislators Republian or Democrats? You can't blame a city

that is going under for trying to do something. They probably have already cut services and programs.

[Live and Learn]

7. And exactly how are these workers supposed to pay their mortgages

and living expenses after a pay cut like that?

[Honeycombe8]

11. How do you expect a city to pay higher wages after the pay cut it's had? nt

[Zalatix]

12. Perhaps the firefighters, etc. ought to quit and really show the city who's boss here.

Let them delude themselves into thinking they can find qualified replacements. When that fails, as it most certainly will, perhaps the city will decide to TAX THE RICH INSTEAD of attacking the workers.

[Honeycombe8]

22. Maybe so. That's the response when your boss doesn't treat you how you think you should

be treated, or paid.

Be realistic about taxing the rich. There aren't enough rich people in that town to save an entire town that is on the brink of bankruptcy. And if they raise taxes too much, they'll move.

There's no easy fix when things are this bad, is my point. And the town is trying to do something. Doesn't sound like anything will work.

There's no expense as great as the cost of an employee. They're worth it. But when you're out of money, you notice that. Just think about the cost of repairs to your house. By far, the biggest part of the cost is the labor.

[NNN0LHI]

23. Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers and replaced them with scabs and everyone cheered

You don't think that can be done here?

Don

[Zalatix]

27. Reagan replaced them with experienced military people.

If a city government wants to replace experienced emergency response personnel with inexperienced scabs then that's their ass.

[NNN0LHI]

29. Sounds like you supported the decertification of PATCO by Reagan

Am I right?

Don

[Live and Learn]

15. Nobody said a word about higher wages.

They could even do furloughs for a small pay cut.

They could also grow a pair and raise taxes on those that can afford it.

Plus they can cut a lot of deals they have with private corporations out. I'd much rather be laid off than cut to minimum wage.

[Honeycombe8]

21. Is that what you'd do if your family lost income? Charge your wife's employer more...

tell them she needs to get paid more, since you lost your job, or else she'll quit? Her employer can afford it. That's called growing a pair. That's also called wife losing job.

Then you'd cut a lot of deals with your lawn guy, your utility companies, your dentist, your car maintenance shop. Just tell them you have less money now, so you'll be paying them less? You expect they'll continue to service you?

Corporations move to cities where taxes are less or same. If the city raises taxes on corporations, some will leave (and come here to Texas....no one's in bankruptcy down here, and business taxes are reasonable compared to the north). So the city may end up with even less revenue than before.

You see the problem? When things start spiraling down, the fixes are limited. The city is out of money.

Whether it should raise taxes on the wealthy there, I suspect there aren't enough wealthy people in that town to make a difference and save it finanially. And I also suspect they did raise taxes before it got this bad.

None of the things you listed would fix a town out of money and ready to file bankruptcy. I think you see the problem, now. It sounds easy, but seriously, nothing you named is enough to save the town.

[geckosfeet]

3. Rotten rat bastards.

Minimum wage for police officers? And fireman? Risking your life for minimum wage? You got to be kidding.

City workers wages slashed in Scranton, Pennsylvania

"We're running into burning buildings, the police are fighting criminals and we're getting paid a rate of $7.25 an hour. It's ridiculous," said John Judge, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local Union No. 60, one of three unions who filed the lawsuit against Doherty and the city.

Doherty could be held in contempt of court for the wage cuts, the unions said, since a county court ruled on Friday that the reductions could not go into effect until a trial could be held.

The unions' lawsuit, filed on Monday, accuses the mayor of acting unilaterally and that the wage cut would have a "devastating impact" on employees, hurting their ability to maintain a decent standard of living.

Judge said the lawyer for the three unions was drafting a petition to hold Doherty in contempt of the injunction, to be filed in court on Monday.

This is why collective bargaining is essential for unions. They may not be able to strike but they sure can look for work elsewhere.

[intheflow]

8. Like suggesting any kid behind a counter at a McDonalds can put out raging fires,

any WalMart check-out clerk can take down a mob drug ring, any waitress at Denny's can teach your child. This is absolutely indecent.

[xchrom]

4. My Crystal Ball says: this will not go well. Nt

[lunatica]

5. Why should they risk their lives then?

That's insane.

[nanabugg]

6. Isn't this what the GOP wants all around the nation? Cut public workers' pay and cut wealthy taxes?

[hack89]

9. The mayor of Scranton is a Democrat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Doherty

[nanabugg]

17. And the squeeze is on all Dem mayors from their state houses. nt

[upi402]

10. Many cities and states in this boat

and people hate lazy "big government" workers due to media propaganda despite the realities.

[HiPointDem]

14. does the mayor get $7.25 too? i'd be ok with it if *everybody* shared the pain.

[onethatcares]

16. Bill Johnson, ex CEO of Duke Energy gets 44 million dollar severance

I realize this has nothing to do with the OP, but it shows where the money goes.

[HiPointDem]

18. yep. rather than pay taxes, the big boys funnel it to their buds. scratch my back & i'll scratch

yours.

[blaze]

19. And don't forget the 78% increase in property tax! nt

[NNN0LHI]

20. We had our first concession contract in 1982

So this is no surprise to me.

Don

[Honeycombe8]

24. The mayor's and City Council wages were also cut to min. wage.

All city employee wages were cut, at all levels.

Makes you wonder how it got this bad. It could've been headed off at the pass a few years ago, seems to me.

But most importantly, who stopped them from being able to file for bankruptcy? Is it a Republican or Democratic legislature?

[hack89]

25. "Judge orders Scranton to pay its workers full wages..."

Scranton's financial crisis continues to wander into uncharted territory, as a judge Friday ordered the city to pay its employees their full wages despite administration testimony that the city is nearly broke.

Lackawanna County Judge Michael Barrasse's ruling did not specifically address the city's financial morass or order the city's administration and council to find a solution. Rather, the ruling sided squarely with arguments of the police, fire and Department of Public Works unions that their contracts are legally binding and Mayor Chris Doherty's unilateral slashing of pay to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is prohibited by state and federal laws.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/judge-orders-scranton-to-pay-its-workers-full-wages-mayor-says-city-does-not-have-the-money-1.1340033

Some sanity - you just can't unilaterally shitcan contracts.

[FrodosPet]

32. Is it OK to write NSF checks?

From the outside, it looks like the city council is more worried about re-election than doing the right thing by raising taxes.

Can a judge at some level order that the city HAS to raise taxes, or that the state house HAS to provide sufficient funds?

Personally, I would have said "Screw it, it is YOUR problem now! I am not going to jail for either contempt of court or NSF check fraud" and walked away a LONG time ago.

[hack89]

26. It appears to be a political pissing contest between the mayor and the town council

Friday's ruling was the latest event in an ongoing war between the mayor and council over city finances. The decision appears to have done little to break the stalemate between the mayor and council over revising a recovery plan under state Act 47, under which Scranton has been designated as financially distressed for 20 years.

The mayor says a revised plan with realistic revenues from hefty tax increases is required by wary banks before they again would consider providing financing that the city needs to fill a $16.8 million budget gap this year. He has proposed a 78 percent tax hike over three years and garbage fee hikes. Council has refused to go along with any tax hikes over 10 percent each year and instead wants to fill the gaps with alternative revenue sources, such as increased contributions from nonprofits and commuter, sales and payroll taxes. The mayor says council ideas won't occur quickly and won't produce enough revenue. He notes that council had final say on the budget that relies on borrowing and refinancing that the city has not been able to obtain without a new recovery plan.

Without borrowing and refinancing, the city has devolved into a cash-crunch crisis of running out of money. On June 27, Mr. Doherty announced he would unilaterally slash pay to minimum wages starting with Friday's paychecks. On Monday, the unions sued to prevent the pay cuts, and on Thursday, Judge Barrasse issued a special temporary injunction ordering full wages, pending Friday's hearing.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/judge-orders-scranton-to-pay-its-workers-full-wages-mayor-says-city-does-not-have-the-money-1.1340033

[StateApparatus]

30. Any and all means

Dictators and despots must be resisted by any and all means at our disposal.

[Hugabear]

31. This needs to happen to Congress

Not so much for people who are risking their lives and teaching our kids