Giving raises to some employees while cutting services and
laying off five workers is absolutely the wrong thing to do.
Raises sets bad example
Giving raises to some employees while cutting services and laying off five workers is absolutely the wrong thing to do. Since the fiscal year started July 1, two-thirds of eligible union-represented city employees and one-third of eligible non-union employees received raises. City management and most of the City Council maintain that they have to keep doling out raises to keep their staff hard-working and efficient. Nonsense.
Rationale doesn’t hold water
Councilman Greg Sellers said a wage freeze would have negative effects on the city and its productivity. “The damage to the organization would be greater than any minimal savings it might accrue,” he told reporter Natalie Everett, adding that he didn’t know if the savings from withheld merit raises would have totaled enough to save jobs. The raises total more than $100,000, enough to save one job. And where’s the proof the freeze would be detrimental? Would there be a mass exodus if the city imposed wage freezes? Perhaps in robust times, that may hold true, but this is different than any other economic climate we’ve seen. The rationale that raises keep good employees just doesn’t hold water. Where are they going to go? Other cities aren’t hiring. If it means moving to the private sector and cashing out their pensions, it’s unlikely many would leave. The private sector is laying off workers faster than government agencies.
Steps to take
What the city needs to do is threefold.
Renegotiate union contracts that include language that stipulates that if the city lays off just one worker, wage freezes kick in.
Include triggers that would reinstate raises when economic conditions permit.
Institute immediate wage freezes, and if there are threats of lawsuits from unions as there have been in Gilroy, so be it. Threats are no reason not to do the right thing.
The city needs to prove to residents – who pay their salaries – that they are doing all they can to run a lean and efficient organization. Awarding raises while cutting jobs in this economic climate sends the wrong message
