Scranton Mayor Slashes Cop Pay to $7.25 Per Hour


All Scranton city workers -- including cops and firefighters -- will be paid minimum wage effective immediately.

The small Pennsylvania town is facing bankruptcy. Unsure how to meet the next payroll, Scranton mayor Chris Doherty took the initiative and slashed wages despite a court order not to.

All 398 city employees are now paid $7.25 per hour. Unions representing the workers have filed a lawsuit against the mayor and the city, reports Yahoo! So how did the city get into this mess?

The unions blame the Scranton mayor and political in-fighting. The mayor blames the City Council and the failure to adopt his budget. Mayor Chris Doherty had wanted to raise taxes given the city's financial woes. However, the mayor says that the City Council blocked his attempts, creating the mess, reports Yahoo!

Scranton reportedly only has $133,000 in cash. The city has $3.4 million in vendor bills and a $16.8 million budget deficit.

In their lawsuit, the unions say that the mayor's actions violated pretty much every employment law. They say that the city failed to pay proper wages and overtime, benefits were cut for disabled police officers and firefighters without a hearing, and that the mayor violated a court order to pay employees their full wages, reports Yahoo!

But if the city is truly facing bankruptcy, it's unclear how the city workers will benefit. Even if they win their lawsuit, the city has no money to pay the judgment or penalty. Additionally, if the Scranton mayor restores their wages, the city would have no money to pay even minimum wage by the next payroll.

How many times is this going to be posted? I suppose it depends on how many times you are paid to post it.

The city workers in Scranton are still going to be making more than you Roberta.

(07-12-2012 09:42 AM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  The city workers in Scranton are still going to be making more than you Roberta.

Um, no they aren't.

(07-12-2012 10:15 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(07-12-2012 09:42 AM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  The city workers in Scranton are still going to be making more than you Roberta.

Um, no they aren't.

damn, so an Armed Guard in Memphis makes more than a cop in Scranton PA...I knew Memphis was dangerous, but damn.

Joe Biden's hometown.

Someone should wake him up and tell him about this.

Seriously, You are going to pay your police and firefighters 7.25 and hour. This country is a mess and getting worse.

(07-12-2012 02:15 PM)UofMemphis Wrote:  damn, so an Armed Guard in Memphis makes more than a cop in Scranton PA...I knew Memphis was dangerous, but damn.

We have unarmed security guards where I work and they make more than a cop in Scranton, PA.

(07-12-2012 02:41 PM)No Bull Wrote:  Seriously, You are going to pay your police and firefighters 7.25 and hour. This country is a mess and getting worse.

Yeah, that is much higher than the market rate. Imagine what their pay would be if there wasn't that pesky economy killing minimum wage.

(07-13-2012 10:48 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(07-12-2012 02:15 PM)UofMemphis Wrote:  damn, so an Armed Guard in Memphis makes more than a cop in Scranton PA...I knew Memphis was dangerous, but damn.

We have unarmed security guards where I work and they make more than a cop in Scranton, PA.

yeah, you make a point...we start unarmed guards off at 9...

We start dishwashers at restaurants at more than $7.25 here in Orlando.

(07-13-2012 10:52 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(07-12-2012 02:41 PM)No Bull Wrote:  Seriously, You are going to pay your police and firefighters 7.25 and hour. This country is a mess and getting worse.

Yeah, that is much higher than the market rate. Imagine what their pay would be if there wasn't that pesky economy killing minimum wage.

Actually no fool. If they'd been paid a market wage, along with every other city employee, and not be given excessive pension and healthcare benefits the city would never have been in the situation it's in to begin with.

(07-13-2012 11:05 AM)Ninerfan1 Wrote:  

(07-13-2012 10:52 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(07-12-2012 02:41 PM)No Bull Wrote:  Seriously, You are going to pay your police and firefighters 7.25 and hour. This country is a mess and getting worse.

Yeah, that is much higher than the market rate. Imagine what their pay would be if there wasn't that pesky economy killing minimum wage.

Actually no fool. If they'd been paid a market wage, along with every other city employee, and not be given excessive pension and healthcare benefits the city would never have been in the situation it's in to begin with.

...

We have just had the worst economic decline in our lifetime, this isn't the case of some powerful union pushing unfair wages and pension onto a city who can't afford it, it's the case of a city which could afford it getting hit extremely hard from the aforementioned economic decline (which has hit local governments harder than state or federal ones due to their reliance on property taxes, and this real-estate centric decline) and having to take drastic, short term changes to make it until their revenue is back to what it normally is. Take a second and think before you regurgitate talking points, please?

(07-13-2012 11:15 AM)UCF08 Wrote:  We have just had the worst economic decline in our lifetime, this isn't the case of some powerful union pushing unfair wages and pension onto a city who can't afford it, it's the case of a city which could afford it getting hit extremely hard from the aforementioned economic decline (which has hit local governments harder than state or federal ones due to their reliance on property taxes, and this real-estate centric decline) and having to take drastic, short term changes to make it until their revenue is back to what it normally is.

I'd invite you to back this up with facts. What leads you to believe Scranton could afford it to begin with? Scranton is 300 million in debt. Unless you want to argue they ran that tab up in the last 3 years your rant above holds no water. See when you're 300 million in debt that means you really can't afford what you're paying for.

They also have 90 million in unfunded pension liabilty. As above, unless you want to argue that 90 million just materialized in the last 3 years no they couldn't afford it. They also have a 15 million dollar judgement against them by the PA supreme court due to arbitration.

Quote:Take a second and think before you regurgitate talking points, please?

You have a unhealthy habit of jumping to d0uche bag mode on here before doing your own thinking. Perhaps the better approach would have been to ask if I could back up what I said, which I would have happily done above. That's how adults have conversations. Instead you went into your "holier than thou, my sh!t don't stink because I'm an enlightened independent" and made an idiot of yourself.

I don't regurgitate talking points. I read on issues and think for myself. I look the evidence and make my own decision. Such an approach isn't confined to those enlightened few such as yourself who don't burden themselves under the yoke of party affiliation. You'd do well to remember it.

(07-13-2012 11:46 AM)Ninerfan1 Wrote:  

(07-13-2012 11:15 AM)UCF08 Wrote:  We have just had the worst economic decline in our lifetime, this isn't the case of some powerful union pushing unfair wages and pension onto a city who can't afford it, it's the case of a city which could afford it getting hit extremely hard from the aforementioned economic decline (which has hit local governments harder than state or federal ones due to their reliance on property taxes, and this real-estate centric decline) and having to take drastic, short term changes to make it until their revenue is back to what it normally is.

I'd invite you to back this up with facts. What leads you to believe Scranton could afford it to begin with? Scranton is 300 million in debt. Unless you want to argue they ran that tab up in the last 3 years your rant above holds no water. See when you're 300 million in debt that means you really can't afford what you're paying for.

They also have 90 million in unfunded pension liabilty. As above, unless you want to argue that 90 million just materialized in the last 3 years no they couldn't afford it. They also have a 15 million dollar judgement against them by the PA supreme court due to arbitration.

Quote:Take a second and think before you regurgitate talking points, please?

You have a unhealthy habit of jumping to d0uche bag mode on here before doing your own thinking. Perhaps the better approach would have been to ask if I could back up what I said, which I would have happily done above. That's how adults have conversations. Instead you went into your "holier than thou, my **** don't stink because I'm an enlightened independent" and made an idiot of yourself.

I don't regurgitate talking points. I read on issues and think for myself. I look the evidence and make my own decision. Such an approach isn't confined to those enlightened few such as yourself who don't burden themselves under the yoke of party affiliation. You'd do well to remember it.

If the problems were apparent before the decline, then I apologize and retract my statement.

(07-13-2012 11:50 AM)UCF08 Wrote:  If the problems were apparent before the decline,

Scranton has been labled a distressed municipality since 1992, soley due to its pension obligations.

Does Scranton have public sector unions?

All Jim needs to do is take Michael on a sales call, close it, then BOOM all the tax revenue will solve the problem...I miss Michael.

(07-13-2012 01:30 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  Does Scranton have public sector unions?

All Jim needs to do is take Michael on a sales call, close it, then BOOM all the tax revenue will solve the problem...I miss Michael.

Gotta agree, although his cringe-inducing behavior was a little much, it worked with the overall dynamic of the show so well compared to Andys. Then again, once Jim and Pam got together, I lost a lot of the desire to watch it.