18 November 2009

CFFA Statement on City Manager’s Bonus

     This past Monday City Manager Curt Walton was awarded a $16,000 bonus, the maximum allowed by the City of Charlotte. If we look at this issue given our current situation without collective bargaining we see a discrepancy has developed due to an understanding and appropriateness of compensation for some city employees and others.  According to the Charlotte Observer, the city manager received a bonus due to a good faith understanding with city council and that not awarding the bonus would essentially be a cut in pay, which is seen as inappropriate. On the other hand firefighters are presented with an established pay plan that consists of annual step increases up to a maximum salary within rank as long as the firefighter maintains an acceptable level of performance through training (paid and unpaid), community service (paid and unpaid), and responding to emergency calls for assistance. We are still required and we still do maintain a high level of service; however, it is acceptable to not honor the established and understood pay plan that dictates our salaries.

     The fact that compensation issues for Charlotte city leaders have been business as usual, while city employees are forced to weather pay cuts, forgo pay increases for promotions and pay more for benefits (or lose them all together as a retiree if hired after July 1, 2009) only strengthens the argument for the right to collectively bargain an enforceable contract. Supporters of collective bargaining rights state that a binding agreement for groups of employees guaranteeing salary, benefits and work conditions increases overall efficiency of government operations. At first, this notion appeared to be a little far-fetched; however, after hearing of city leaders receiving bonuses while“projected” budgetary shortfalls were primarily resolved through payroll and benefit adjustments, it appears that in Charlotte efficiency is obtained on the backs of the city’s workers. This approach seems to favor the easy way out of a negative financial situation. A contract for each group of city workers would ensure that annual incremental pay increases are funded and in turn cost savings would be achieved by improving operations and spending in a way
that promotes more efficient results. We need to ask ourselves, Is it right for our leaders to be rewarded for taking the easy way out and how much longer are we going bear the burden of this economic downturn while the city consistently generates a profit?

Link to Charlotte Observer story:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/1061738.html

KEY POINTS of Collective Bargaining.doc

Click here to view the Collective Bargaining Info.

What does rank-and-file Unionism mean.doc