Six more city workers thrown into unemployment
There was a point during the last Lakewood City Council meeting where Mayor Edward O. FitzGerald briefly made mention of a situation in which the city and the labor union representing refuse workers were discussing a solution to avoid potential layoffs due to the transition to automated front yard garbage collection.
The mayor’s comments came during Councilwoman Nickie Antonio’s (At-Large) panic and anxiety about the possibility of having Public Works Director Joseph Beno administer rules allowing leashed dogs into Lakewood’s parks.
At the time the mayor made his remarks, I thought I heard him say the city had reached an agreement with the union and the jobs were saved. The city’s law director later notified me that was incorrect. No agreement was reached. The union was going to vote on the matter July 1st.
Today Ann Tanner, staff representative of AFSCME Ohio Council 8, said Local 1043, which represents members of the city’s division of refuse and recycling, voted against accepting the concessions the city requested.
As a result, three refuse workers will be terminated today, and three more will get their walking papers tomorrow, July 3rd.
The rough outline of the proposed deal was this: If the union agreed to switch to a 90/10 healthcare plan, the city would stay the layoffs.
Tanner did not know what the final vote total was, but said the city’s offer was rejected because of concern over details of the plan, including the absence of a guarantee the refuse workers would have employment.
The city would have transferred the refuse workers to city jobs funded by a source other than the general fund — the pot of money where most of the city’s workers are paid from. The union was concerned that there was no guarantee the mayor would actually post the six jobs, and that even if they were posted, the six refuse workers might not have the qualifications to be hired into the slots.
Each of the city’s seven collective bargaining agreements will be up for renegotiation at the end of 2009.
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