Warren city employees show cooperative spirit

With a $690,000 shortfall in the city of Warren’s operating budget for this year, employee layoffs over and above those imposed in January 2009 loomed large — until the unions went to the negotiating table with a willingness to do what’s in the best interest of their members and the community.

Although unions representing two small groups of workers are still negotiating with the city, there most likely won’t be any furloughs in 2010. Instead, city workers will, in all probability, have their wages frozen, and will pay 10 percent of their health care costs. The result: the elimination of red ink in the spending plan.

On Jan. 1, 2009, the administration laid off 11 firefighters and did not replace four others who retired in 2008. In addition, 20 jobs were eliminated in the police department, and eight in other city departments.

But despite the decrease in the payroll, the city had a tough time weathering the budgetary storm, brought on by the national and global recessions.

The administration of Mayor Michael O’Brien had sought union agreement to withhold the final pay of the year in anticipation of there not being money to cover the checks. Fortunately, the city was able to make the final pay of the 2009 before year’s end.

But with the 2010 budget dripping red ink, the Warren Fire Department was facing two more cuts in its workforce; that prompted members on Sunday to approve a one-year contract by a vote of 33-15. The action saved the two jobs.

“We were fighting over manning the entire time, not money,” said Marc Titus, president of the firefighters union, of the negotiations with the administration.

Major concessions

The contract contains the two major concessions approved by police officers, police dispatchers and many other city employees: Firefighters will now pay 10 percent of their health care bill; their wages will be frozen in 2010.

In past years, the health care plan for employees of the city of Warren did not require a contribution.

The concession on health care is noteworthy because costs keep rising. Last November, Chuck Eggleston, a firefighter and chairman of an employees’ committee formed to address health-care costs, recommended a competitive bidding process for health-insurance coverage.

It costs Warren more than $6 million for coverage, and a bidding process is not only financially advisable, but would go a long way toward winning over those taxpayers who see government as nothing more than a huge sponge.

In addition to finding a solution to the health-care cost dilemma, elected officials and other members of the administration are under the gun to also make concessions with regard to wages, health care and pensions.

“We’re asking them to lead by example,” Titus, the firefighters’ union president, said. “When you see people getting pay raises, then you feel it’s not as bleak as they’re saying.”

He pointed out that Mayor O’Brien gave back his cost of living increase, but many others have not.

But it isn’t just union employees who want to see sacrifices being made across the board. Private sector taxpayers, who have not had pay increases for several years, but yet are paying higher percentages of health care premiums and larger deductibles for doctor’s visits and prescriptions, aren’t in an understanding mood when it comes to the public sector.

Concessions must be the order of the day — not only in Warren but for all public sector entities in the Mahoning Valley.

This is not the time for pay raises — even in those communities that are not yet facing budgetary crises.