At the risk of avoiding too much detail, I was wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the implementation of Scranton's Recovery Plan. Now I know that with something like this the "devil is in the details", but at the risk of making some generalizations, here are my thoughts:
"Management Rights" There are points in the Recovery Plan that I favor. For example, management should be able to set some basic conditions of work and make overall staffing decisions. If you want to call this "Management Rights", then so be it. The classic example in Scranton Lore was the drug squad in the 1980's that was working bankers hours. Now I know that whenever you get into collective bargaining agreements things get spelled out in painful levels of detail, but I do think that the city administration should have a fair amount of discretion in terms of managing manpower (deciding shift numbers and hours, for example).
"Cost Containment" In the real world,. costs go up every year. That's true for the familes of public servants, but it's also true for the City of Scranton as a whole. In the private sector, there is a compelling reason to manage costs...namely competition. That simply doesn't exist in the public arena, so containing costs does get more difficult. That said, the City should be able to implement things like benefit changes, to the extent permissible by law. I pay dramatically more for my healthcare coverage now than I did 19 years ago, but that's because healthcare costs dramatically more now than it did 19 years ago. No one should be insulated from the real world market forces that drive things like this...to the extent they are that simply forstalls the major changes we, as a society need to make in order to truly contain these types of costs.
"Setting the Example" This is where the Doherty Administration falls flat. Simply put, you can't have a double standard when it comes to the treatment of management/administration vs. rank & file city employees. If city employees go without a raise, then management/administration should go without one as well. If the number of firefighters is reduced because it's determined that the current staffing level is too high, then the same efficiency yardstick should be employed when it comes management/administation. The Doherty Administration has to lead by example here, and in my opinion, it has failed. "Distressed City" doesn't just apply to the Police and Fire Departments...it applies to all aspects of city operation. People are more willing to sacrifice if that sacrifice is shared.
-- Edited by Agamemnon at 05:37, 2008-07-10
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"Hope at least gives you the option of living" - Harry Nilsson
Implement it fully while explaining the dichotomy that exists between the "white-collar" and "blue-collar" salaries. The voters can then make (horrors) an informed decision in the primary next year.
No one in the city knows what the recovery plan even is. They just think it guarantees, well, a recovery. The details escape them.
Interesting strategy...drag it out so long and make it so complicated that people either forget or lose interest. Hey, I think that's the same strategy employed by President Bush when it comes to Iraq war funding.
Anyway, in absolute terms I don't have a problem with white collar-salaries being higher than blue-collar salaries...after all, this is America and at least in theory management should make more than rank-and-file. I do have a problem though with a lack of shared sacrifice when it comes to things like raises.
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"Hope at least gives you the option of living" - Harry Nilsson
I need to read the plan in order to form an opinion ... I do know this much ... I am not comfortable with cuts in the Fire Dept. I do not support that ... at all. I do not support and fire house closings ... this past year has been hell with fires ... and well I like the idea that they are there if they are needed ... and I don't mind it at all if they are not needed ... I find comfort in the fact that the firehouses are there and the manpower to run them needs to remain ... If you have ever been a fire victim you would understand my thinking ... I would rather pay them all to sit and do nothing ... but hell that's just my opinion.
And as far as the SPD is concerned ... there should be no cuts there either ... if we begin to cut back on police patrols that is when we will become like Wilkes-Barre ... it's like opening up the door and saying welcome to the thief ... help yourself we don't care!
Ahhhhhh ... do I want out of distressed status ... yeah I do ... but at what price? I am not willing to give up these two services! Just my opinion!
::: ... I don't have a problem with white collar-salaries being higher than blue-collar salaries... :::
I have a problem with it. On one hand, you have multiple sweat stained, blue-collar fire fighters and policepersons out there risking their lives every time they get called out. Multiple firemen or policemen can be maimed or lose their lives in a split second on any given day.
And on the other hand you've got air conditioned, white-collared double-dippers who sit behind their desks for four of the eight hours of their daily grind. The remaining four hours are spent schmoozing, lunching, flirting and prepping for the weekend.
Don't get me wrong. I am sure there are a number of municipal workers who do the jobs they are paid to do and have the credentials to hold these positions. But if you give a job to someone's kid because you got a hefty contribution from Daddy's company at election time, that's just wrong. I'm paying for it and you're paying for it.
If I (God forbid) need a fireman or policeman at my home, I want to know they are being well compensated for the duties they are performing and for which they are risking their lives. Then some 50K+perks kid shows up with his clipboard after all the hard work is done? No.
