In an effort to save money, the City is suggesting employees don’t get paid for days that they don’t work- imagine that. Now, when you throw in that some safety employees have to work those days, asking them to work without a premium is a bit tough- and that’s where the Police union doesn’t want to back down.
There is a lot more to this than what you’ll read in the Dayton Daily News story:
The city of Dayton’s 454 non union employees, executives and mid level managers will forgo pay on four of 11 holidays….
The holidays are Labor Day, Martin Luther King Day, Good Friday and Memorial Day.
The reality is, the City has been too good to some employees for a long time. Like the waste collectors who have a “make out and quit” schedule- that allows them to count a full 8 hour day- as long as they get their route done- sometimes in half that. They get paid holiday pay and work on Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July- basically every holiday but Christmas, a policy that has to stop. No other waste collector does this, you just work regular overtime the next day and double your route (imagine that).
The police department and the courts make an amazing mess of overtime pay as well. When cops have to show up in court, which runs 8-4 for the lawyers and judges, yet the cops who work 2nd and 3rd shifts- routinely get paid a full day to show up- for a short appearance. There is no easy answer to solve this, however, I’m aware that efforts have been made to make this process more efficient.
The reality is, everyone needs to chip in to help make it through this budget process and the police union isn’t coming off as a team player. We appreciate what they are asked to do, but there have to be other, innovative, ways to save money in the department.
Is it time to stat thinking about radical options? Probably. Maybe we need to put convicts behind the garbage trucks instead of union workers? Want a shorter sentence? Pick up the trash. If I can work a trash truck as a citizen on alley cleanup, why can’t we put society’s detritus to work- and free up the trash collectors to maintain parks and roadways?
There are a lot of intelligent discussions we could have about ways to conserve capital, but the one being had between the FOP and the City Manager isn’t one of them.
You seem to be confused about how the four unpaid days/holidays will work. There is a difference in how this is being implemented between the union and non-union employees. Dayton Public Service Union (DPSU) members (waste collectors, street maintenance workers, etc) will be paid for the four holidays in question and will take their four unpaid days off at random times throughout the year (coordinated by supervisors in order to ensure adequate coverage). It is the mid-management/management (non-union) employees who will not be paid for the holidays (and obviously won’t work them as well). No one is working without getting paid.
So, with all that being said, why won’t the FOP agree to the same terms as DPSU? Is this just a pissing match over the fact that the City wanted to change the terms of the current FOP contract before it has expired? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Losing four days pay and not getting a raise beats not having a job.
There’s no arguing with your fiscal logic Dave, but the Old Bandito admits to a soft spot in his cholesterol clogged cardia for those guys who get up early and pick up the crap that I and others discard. Having survived the great Detroit garbage strike of 1980 the Bandito can testify that when garbage men hit the bricks that quality of life suffers. Unlike many issues, a garbage strike is not a problem that stays locked into the city limits; for as the urban dwellers are rapidly blanketed in an avalanche of chicken bones, spoiling and smelly produce and Chitos bags, they soon find dumping spots in the Burbs. From Temperance to Grosse Pointe, Detroiters soon took refuge road trips and no suburban cul-de-sac was exempt. Though the Libertarian in me says the city should phase out city collection in favor of contracts with commercial haulers, the Bandito has a emotional tie to the dudes who come around the block in below zero temps to relieve me of the stuff that is no longer of any worldly good regardless of how foul the aroma. Hail to thee, Troubadors of the Truck, live long and prosper, and see you Monday……………
Like many other workers throughout the US I’ve taken my 5% pay cut, 401k match eliminated, and handful of days of unpaid time all within 2009. These sort of reductions in my take home allowed the company to keep more of us employed. I think everyone of us knows at least one person who’s income has been reduced in the last year or even job lost.
Before you talk crap about Dayton wastes collectors I suggest you get off you fat butt and try to do their job for just 30 mins. I’d bet $500 that you wouldn’t last 15 mins..There’s a reason the waste collectors get off early and that’s because they actually work..I doubt that you will ever see a waste collection truck parked on the streets with the crew sleeping.. They don’t take 2 15 min breaks or a 60 min lunch ..They work straight through to get the routes completed…Trust me, they earn every dollar they get..If they choose to give up most of their holidays and want to work, why do you have a problem with that?..If waste collectors want to stay at work for a full 8 hrs they could very easily stretch their day out and work slow…But who wants to be in the summertime heat or freezing winter cold for 8 hrs when they don’t have to?..I agree that some changes could be made because some of them are raking in the overtime hours, but it’s not the workers fault..it should be up to the supervisors to manage the departments intelligently…
Unfortunately, Johnnymac, I have walked behind a garbage truck- many a Saturday morning- doing what we call an “alley sweep.” It’s where citizens go out to pick up the things that waste collection seems to miss.
When I first moved to South Park, we did it monthly- 9 months out of the year. Now we beg for just one of these joyous occasions.
You have totally missed my point- which was about the holiday work schedules- paying double time, when in fact, these guys should just get a day off- and work harder the next day- just like most of us do.
Personally attacking me is rather lame, btw- to say couldn’t pick up trash, is a joke. How many of them could serve with Special Forces? I used to do more before 6am than they’d do in a day when I was a younger man.
Please come back with something more intelligent to add to the conversation.