A decision by the Civil Service Employees Association to forgo a giant inflatable rat at a Spa City protest was well advised, as torrential rainfall besieged pickets in front of the City Center shortly after their demonstration began on Tuesday, June 30.
But many of the several dozen Department of Public Works employees marched in the front of the building through the pouring rain carrying signs that read I’m your Zamboni driver and `I plow the streets.` They were largely protesting what they say is an unfair stance by the city in recently stalled union contract negotiations.
`Our members feel slighted by the city and they feel neglected by the community,` said Jon Premo, CSEA’s chief negotiator for the DPW.
The negotiations officially ended on June 4, when both sides made their final proposals. The city made a final offer of no raises this year, followed by 1.5 and 2.5 percent raises in 2010 and 2011, provided that employees who don’t pay for health care would pay $500 annually toward health care costs.
CSEA counter offered, accepting a zero percent raise in 2009 but proposing a 3 percent raise ` along with a 1.5 percent raise in July ` for the following two years.
Mayor Scott Johnson said the city cannot afford the CSEA’s proposal. He was with hundreds of his colleagues inside the City Center on Tuesday for the New York Conference of Mayors, where the central theme was maintaining government in lean times.
The city is facing a fiscal crisis that largely stems from lagging tax revenues and the removal of VLT aid funding from the state. The City Council is expected to vote on $2.8 million of mid-year budget cuts on July 7.
`We’re developing a new mindset on what is fair compensation for union workers that the city taxpayer can actually afford,` said Johnson. `We simply can’t afford to be overly generous.`
He went on to note that with rising health care costs and a tightening economy, the city is focusing on keeping its workers employed.
`In many communities, there are significant layoffs in the size of city workforces,` said Johnson. `We’re simply asking them to hold the line on wages.`
Premo argued that the city’s budget crisis stems directly from decisions made by the City Council on the budget, including not raising taxes this year. Now, he argued, DPW workers are being asked to pay for those mistakes.
`What they’re trying to do is take a community problem and solve it by denying increases in pay to its employees,` he said.
There are about 95 CSEA members working in the DPW, and about 100 others in City Hall. Contracts with the Police Benevolent Association and City Hall workers are also open.
Negotiations will now enter a fact-finding phase, in which an independent party will be assigned by the New York State Public Employment Relations Board to hear arguments from both sides.
According to Johnson, filing to enter fact finding is at the discretion of the union, and he hasn’t heard anything yet.
With both sides away from the table and the fact-finding phase of negotiations not yet begun, one might wonder what the association hoped to accomplish by demonstrating.
`We hope to allow them to let off a little steam today and get our story out,` said Premo. `Our members feel slighted by the city.`
The gathered pickets mostly vented towards Johnson, with chants of `Hey hey, ho ho, the mayor’s got to go` and `We’ll remember in November.`
Johnson said he’s a proponent of fair contracts but also has a responsibility to factor in the impact on the taxpayer.
`I’m being portrayed as a union buster, and that simply isn’t true,` he said.
Also on Tuesday, Gov. David Paterson announced that $2.8 million in stimulus funds will go toward reconstructing a portion of Church Street. The grant will cover most of the project’s cost, and construction is expected to begin this summer.“