Dispatches...Mayor to do that whole "lay everyone off and rehire them for 37.5 hours" thing on Friday

Constant Readers,

He said he was gonna do it, and now at least one union says Friday is the big day. Check out this announcement from Local 21, which is the "Professional and Technical Engineers." A friend of mine who works for The City received it on Friday.

City Moves to Implement 37.5 Hour Workweek Proposal – Local 21 Responds

In a move that signals the severity of the budget crisis but is also certain to embroil the City in an expensive and time-consuming legal battle, the City has announced that it plans to issue layoff notices to between 10,000 and 15,000 employees this Friday, March 5. The layoff notices are being issued a mere 15 days after the City sent letters to Local 21 and other city employee representatives requesting that they “Meet and Confer” on the proposal.

On February 23 – two work days later - the SF Labor Council’s Public Employees’ Committee (PEC) refused to attend the “Meet and Confer” meetings and responded “that implementation of this decision would violate the terms of the City’s collective bargaining agreements.” As an alternative, the PEC offered to meet to “discuss alternatives for closing the projected budget gap.” The City sent a response on February disagreeing with our contractual interpretation, but agreeing to the invite from the PEC. The meeting between the City and the PEC took place on February 24 at Local 21’s office and the Mayor attended as part of the management team.

At that meeting the PEC presented a preliminary framework for addressing the budget gap that included a shared solution model incorporating PSC reductions (including CBOs), operational efficiency (including a review of 12-B), revenue (tax and fee increases), and – as part of such a larger solution – a wiliness to discuss labor concessions. A second meeting is tentatively set for this week.

Local 21’s attorney’s, along with attorneys from the other PEC unions believe that the 37.5 hour workweek cannot be implemented unilaterally for various contractual and legal reasons and will be prepared to make those arguments in the appropriate forum as necessary.

In addition to preparing a legal defense against unilateral implementation, the PEC is making arrangements for an independent economist to review the City’s budget revenue and expenditure projections and make recommendations on alternatives.

Earlier in the week, Local 21 Executive Director Bob Muscat, reported to Local 21 Chapter Presidents, “City employees aren’t trying to run away from the problem, but we’re not making any unconditional contributions without a verification and an understanding on how the City spends the money they already have. We want to be part of the plan for how the City closes the entire $500 million plus projected budget gap. And, we can’t go through another year watching more than $1 billion being spent on private contracts while city employees are being laid off and/or asked to reduce their pay.”

Information will be available early next week on Local 21’s website on the following link: http://ifpte21.org/chp_sfc.shtml.

Today the Mayor issued a statement regarding what to expect.

Comments

[generic]

Ouch.

[DJTennessee]

"You can make it right back up when you gouge them on the overtime hours."

-Professional and Technical Engineers

[chuck reilly]

Good for Gavin. Taxpayers and Small Business are tired of paying $100K salaries and benefits for State and Local union workers. Folks in Private Industry have cut way back; many have no benefits.

Time for Big Labor to back off and give the little guys a break.

[Acai Optimum]

I enjoyed reading this post. Thanks for a wonderful job!