Williams has plan to avert 34 layoffs

By David Skolnick | March 31, 2009 at 12:08a.m.

Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams

Youngstown council and the administration will meet with union leaders today.

YOUNGSTOWN — Layoffs of city employees could be avoided if labor unions agree to give up “special pay,” Mayor Jay Williams said.

“Special pay” includes longevity [payments given to workers for the number of years they’re employed by the city], clothing allowances, bonuses for not using sick pay and for having college degrees, among other benefits, Williams said.

The elimination of those payments would save the city about $1.5 million annually, Williams said Wednesday after city council voted to approve the 2009 budget.

Those cuts would be made by both workers and management, he said.

The cuts wouldn’t include hazardous duty pay for police officers, firefighters and others who receive it, Williams said.

If concessions aren’t made, layoff notices will be given April 15. Those losing their jobs would be given two weeks’ notice, said Kyle Miasek, the city’s deputy finance director.

The budget calls for $860,000 in personnel cuts, most of it from the police department. That could mean up to 34 city workers, including 22 to 26 police officers, losing their jobs at the end of April.

Also, the city is keeping 14 positions vacant, saving $874,230 a year.

Those were the key cuts made by the city administration to the general fund budget and approved Wednesday by city council to make up a projected $3.3 million deficit.

Enrique Suarez, chairman of the Solidarity Group, which includes officials from each of the eight unions representing city employees, declined to comment Monday on Williams’ proposal.

“We’ll discuss it” today, Suarez said.

Group officials will meet today with the administration and city council members to talk about ways to reduce the city’s finances.

If the union agrees to giving up those benefits for the rest of this year, Williams said he’d “commit to no layoffs. It’s an exceptionally risky proposition because of the uncertainty of the economy.”

Williams said he’d like to permanently negotiate those benefits out of labor contracts because it would be a huge savings to the city.

The mayor points out that the United Auto Workers union agreed to give up its “job bank” program at General Motors in an effort to help the ailing automotive company.

“It was a perk that was negotiated in good faith during a much different era,” he said. “Today’s economic environment demands greater efficiency and financial accountability. If a large, powerful, and storied union such as the UAW can recognize the need to shed certain perks of the past, I am hopeful that our employee unions will recognize the same.”

Williams said he’s dropped any hope that the unions would agree with his previous proposal to cut salaries by 10 percent for six unions paid from the general fund to avoid layoffs.

Union officials had dismissed the proposal, saying Williams should first look at making other cuts before asking for that salary reduction.

Williams reduced his $105,000 annual salary by 10 percent through a combination of a pay cut and givebacks on some of his benefits.

By law, the city has to approve a balanced 2009 budget by Tuesday. But it can revise the budget at any time, said Finance Director David Bozanich.

skolnick@vindy.com