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May 19, 2009 Mayor’s Haste Makes Waste: Changes Need Approval from Pension System
The harmful contract imposed by Mayor Jerry Sanders and the City Council on Local 127’s blue-collar workers has hit another legal wall. Proposed contract changes in a retirement benefit that were to take effect on July 1 will require approval by a majority vote of all employees in the city pension system (SDCERS). And there is not time for SDCERS to conduct the vote before July 1 when the one-year contract is supposed to start. It would take several months beyond July 1 for the Council to pass a required ordinance that would then be put to a vote of SDCERS members. The city is already facing a lawsuit filed by Local 127 with the state Public Employees Relations Board regarding bad-faith bargaining during recent contract negotiations. The Unfair Labor Practices suit is the focus of proposed settlement discussions between the Union and the Council. The City Charter (Sect. 143.1) requires current employees to sign off on reduced benefits, such as those imposed on blue-collar workers represented by Local 127, police officers and management employees not represented by a union. The Mayor and Council are demanding changes in the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) that would eliminate an annuity option for prospective participants and increase the eligibility age by five years to age 60 for Local 127 and the Police Officers Assn. City management employees not represented by a union were completely axed from the DROP program. The DROP reductions were included in the imposed contract that would also take an average $200 per month from the take-home pay of the lowest-paid city workers represented by Local 127. “The Mayor didn’t do his homework. His haste to jam this unfair contract down the throats of our blue-collar workers is turning into a waste of taxpayer dollars. Now the citizens will have to foot the costs for undoing this mistake,” said Local 127 President Joan Raymond.
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