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Among the items on today’s meeting of the City Council finance committee was a measure that would require about 3,700 nonunionized city workers to take a total of 15 unpaid days off by the end of the year. City budget officials said that would save up to $14 million. They also said that if they can’t come to an agreement with labor leaders they’ll slash 1,500 unionized jobs in the next few weeks to save millions more.
Longtime administration loyalists Ray Suarez and Richard Mell suggested it might be time for a cutback in public safety staffing—something that’s usually considered a political no-no. “I thought the pain was going to be shared by all city workers,” Suarez griped.
Carothers appeared skeptical. “I’ve been hearing from people saying, ‘Why did I get laid off before he did when I’ve worked here longer?’” He asked for paperwork detailing the layoff process.
No one had a good answer, but the meeting went on. A little while later the committee voted unanimously to approve the furlough plan.
