At a meeting today of the Hartford Municipal Employees Association (HMEA). Members apparently voted unanimously to turn down a request by Mayor Bronin to withdraw their contract negotiations from the arbitration process.
Apparently Bronin had requested the withdrawal from Arbitration as part of the process to start getting Hartford's budget mess in order. This step would have been part of the process to re-open Union contract issues, what many say is a necessary first step.
On the other side, there might be an issue of the trust factor between the Union's and the City Administration. Previously Hartford's Unions were requested to agree to give backs, furlough days and various concessions. They did their part at that time, only to see Mayor Segarra then hand out raises to his staff, including a $20,000 raise to his Chief of Staff Jared Kupiec,
Unfortunately, Hartford's "Massive" budget deficit continues to grow daily.
The unfortunate pat of these actions is that many of HMEA'S members are actually Hartford residents and any layoffs of HMEA members would hit them and the City very hard both in unemployment stats and difficulty paying taxes on their homes and vehicles.
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18 comments:
Not to mention that it is unethical to ask them to leave the arbitration process. That is called negotiating.
Mayor Bronin also turned a deaf ear to our cost saving suggestions (including those at the Hartford Parking Authority
HMEA couldn't care less if the city would collapse. HMEA couldn't care less if Hartford hard working residents would have to pay more taxes.
As long as they get more, more and more. The union will give nothing.
5:33 cost savings suggestions? why not let everyone in on the cost savings suggestions?
The greed of the union shows when they most always prefer to lay off instead of agreeing to lower wages and perks. But they (unions) also have a legit beef when they give backs at the top only to watch a former mayor hand out pay increases like handing out toilet paper to those with diarrhea.
Can ya dig it?
5:35pm
BS! No raise since June 2013 while increased medical contributions is hardly considered "as long as they get more, more and more." would've never taken the job years ago if part of the job incentives were the benefits including a pension!
Public sector unions; we didn't use to have them. Some states still don't have them. Unfortunately Connecticut imposes them on both State and municipal governments.
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All of these efforts are, of course, attempts to deal only with the symptoms of the looming state fiscal crisis — not with its underlying causes. To address those causes, policymakers may even need to re-open the question of whether government workers should enjoy the privilege of collective bargaining.
After all, even without collective bargaining, government workers would still benefit from far-reaching protections under existing civil-service statutes — more protections than most private-sector workers enjoy. And they would retain their full rights as citizens to petition the government for changes in policy. Public-sector workers' ability to unionize is hardly sacrosanct; it is by no means a fundamental civil or constitutional right. It has been permitted by most states and localities for only about half a century, and, so far, it is not clear that this experiment has served the public interest.
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-trouble-with-public-sector-unions
Just give City Councils more money in there budget to hire more appointed aides or anyone else appointed including the Mayors office. This is exactly what Segarra Perez and Peters and on and on did. Mayor Bronin took a pay decrease immediately. Well, so much for that good gesture. Hartford residents who are employed by the city
pay car and property taxes. Those who do not live in the city do not.
Unions protect the worker. Read USA history and see what a union is all about. However, over the years a few Union executives did not abide by rules. Examble,
just like any non-profit that have Board of Directors who give the CEO large salaries to run the agency. These Board of Directors get paid backs all the time.
The Hartford Parking Authority is a sham. Some Hartford Parking Authority staff and security people do not live in the city. These jobs should be for Hartford residents only. Bring back the Hartford Meter Staff. Hartford had them years ago. These people were all Hartford residents and paid taxes. The Stadium Authority is the biggest sham. This Stadium Authority came in last in the Hartford Derby because it was a 99 percent long shot and Hartford lost again and will never be able to recoup the loss. Great job Stadium Authority! Hartford lost again.
None of the unions will agree to givebacks in part because of the terrible mismanagement example set by Mayor Peters,Perez and Segarra and Council President Wooden. The union folks feel that any funds given back will be spent upon the city hall big shots or given to the DONO billionaires. Mayor Bronin May next attempt statewide legislation to require reopening those contracts,but most of us believe that it will never pass the House and Senate. The final option that Bronin should and will consider is an oversight board,which could have a provision for deficit bonding.
I wonder how much damage is done to those meter units from irate drivers after getting a ticket. Just watch out. There is a tiny go pro camera photographing every customer. Don't believe me? Bring a magnifying glass and look closely at he middle hole in the center of the machine. The change locks until you place a coin which releases a photo which releases the coin slot.
All city employee's who live out of the city pay state and federal taxes, including income taxes. A large portion of the city budget comes from state and federal grants. When Hartford returns those grants and operates on city taxpayer generated income maybe then jobs can be limited to city residents. The Hartford fire union gave up an eight % raise won in arbitration to save 27 firefighters jobs who who had received layoff slips from the city. This happened in the early 70's.
Can you really blame them? Every time a new politician comes in, they are asked for give backs, only to see the savings wasted. Maybe if the new mayor makes an effort first, like eliminating the pensions for the council staff and reducing the "salary" to council or freeze positions like the person who is in charge of 2nd chance office - really isn't that a duplication of other services offered by non profits and thee state. Is a press officer really necessary? And has anyone actually seen his paystub to verify that he took the pay cut he promised? HMEA is a pretty small union, any real or meaningful savings would be in the police and fire contracts, so why not start there.
Will Bronin ask his cronies from Malloy Team to give back, they don"t even live in Hartford? Will he ask the Husband & Wife duo to work for one 100,000+ pay
check? The average salary of HMEA is around 58,000 not 100,000+ that Bronin is paying his "key appointments" and his pay cut is fake he is making over 150,000, if you were smart, he said he'll work days for free, that's a facade not a pay cut. Isn't a Mayor always on duty? Bronin is a bigger fraud than Perez & Segarra put together... he just got an Ivy School debate degree, fooling Hartford Big Time, wait & see, this little boy is going to show you how the 1 percent stick it to you and you say thank you Masta, he owns you now! FOI those pay records, also tell little man to take away the hundreds, yes hundreds of free iphones the taxpayers are paying for, yes the iphones are just like the p card scandal, you want a scoop Brookman look at that. Only Deptarment Heads had cellphones, we have giving them out like Obama phones, free calls, music, movies itune purchases check the call logs and the ipads too. Bronin threw the towel in without even trying other solutions.
This is what Malloy wanted, remember his brokered deal on the steps of City Hall. I worked for this corupt city for 13 years, I make 48,000, this Guy is no different; same shit, diferent shit thrower.
It seems pretty clear that the unions don't want to work with the administration and the administration doesn't want to work with the unions. Successful organizations that employ union members partner with the unions, and many even have requirements for union members having a leadership role. A challenge in Hartford, as the original post suggested, is past administrations' not treating the unions fairly. However the suggestion that it was just Segarra is irresponsibly false. This has been going on for decades and is the result of incompetent union leaders and egotistic city leadership.
I don't see much of a change with Bronin. If the mayor wants the unions to work WITH the city everything needs to be on the table and transparent. These discussions may be uncomfortable for the mayor, such as why a husband and wife team from West Hartford both received deputy director roles in new organization or why a 22 year old in finance is worth six figures. If the mayor wants the unions to make concessions, they need to make decisions that are in the best interest of city residents and stakeholders. As long as the administration takes the position that they have all the answers they will be pretty lonely in the discussions.
Don't believe everything you read. HMEA offered many cost saving solutions and all were turned down by the Mayor. He only wants them to come out of arbitration to save the City from bankruptcy. If every HMEA member was laid off, it wouldn't make a dent in the deficit.
The deficit is caused by DEBT - build another school, build a stadium, buy more cop cars. Construction bring jobs into the city. Same old story, if I need a new roof, I pay for it.
I don't borrow a million bucks and gold plate my roof. Debt has to be paid back, but on not on the backs of workers at City hall, or the street cleaners, or the firefighters.
City employees did not hire 10 new unnecessary directors, nor did they hire a corrupt person to build dillion stadium. The City administration did! And while everyone should share in the rebuilding of Hartford it can't be done simply by laying off 500 hardworking people.
John;
I agree with much of what you said. It was thoughtful. This must be a new day but transparency is the key. If Bronin wants unions to caugh up, then he must also be willing to have upper management calf up. As a tax payer here and home owner, I will not agree to a tax increase. This budget must be made with cuts. And I hope the unions don't get their usual greedy self and opt for layoffs instead of cut backs. They always opt to get rid of newer employees in favor of seniority.
I can afford to leave Hartford and I will. And I am not concerned about getting top dollar for my house. Frick it. You may have it for half price. I'll make up for it on the other side.
But I share your concern. Let's see what Jr can do. If he pulls it off, he has a career in politics. If he doesn't, he can always return to his legal beagles. There is a lot at stake for everyone.
I wonder why Mr Brookman has repeatedly deleted my stories on waste in Public Works when I mention one person who has wasted thousands of dollars. It almost sound as if he is protecting the guy. He regularly allows names of police and fire on these posts. But not Mr Waste from Public Works.
In the ladt decsde the fire department has gotten raises but gave the city considerable savings by changing health care and prescription coverage as well as agreeing to straight time for all hours worked. No time and half. The only department to do so and its a huge savings. Still not enough.
@9:48
Nope. Not enough. The people of Hartford are demanding an all volunteer fire department.
Can you hang?
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