Council 94 OKs contract
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Union OKs Deal
State workers have approved a plan to cut pay but keep jobs.
NBC 10
J. Michael Downey, president of Council 94, says the union’s motivation to approve a deal that cuts workers pay was to keep people working.
Associated Press Writer
Published: October 6, 2009
Updated: October 7, 2009
PROVIDENCE—The largest state employees’ union approved a contract Tuesday that cuts the pay of its workers but saves their jobs, a decision that prevents Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri from shutting down state government or making mass layoffs to balance the budget, union officials said.
Members of Council 94 voted 1,757 to 1,264 to approve the cost-cutting agreement, which is meant to help close a $68 million budget shortfall brought on in part by one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression. The ballots were cast last week and counted at the union’s headquarters Tuesday afternoon.
A majority of the state’s roughly 15,400 workers are now making the financial concessions accepted by Council 94. Securing the union’s approval was critical for Carcieri because it represents about 4,000 workers and typically takes the lead in negotiations with the state.
“The members have spoken. The motivation was to have a little peace on the job which we love. I’m waiting. I cannot wait for the governor of the state of Rhode Island not only to thank us but to let us to go do our work. The main thing was to keep people working. We are workers and we want to keep everybody working,“ J. Michael Downey, president of Council 94 told NBC 10.
Carcieri had threatened to lay off workers from unions that rejected the deal.
“I realize this was a difficult decision, and I appreciate the willingness and understanding of the state employees for choosing to be partners in managing our way through this economic crisis,“ Carcieri said in a statement. “Because of the cooperation of Council 94, and the many other state employee unions that have already ratified the agreement, we will save $36 million in personnel costs over the next two years, keep people working, and preserve state services.“
The agreement requires state employees to lose 12 days of pay over the next year-and-a-half. In return, they would get extra vacation time and could claim some of their lost pay when they retire or leave their state jobs. A scheduled 3 percent pay raise will be delayed six months until January 2011.
As part of the agreement, Carcieri and his successor cannot shut down state government or lay off state employees to save money through June 2011.
Facing a looming budget deficit, Carcieri signed an executive order in August that would have closed nonessential government agencies for a dozen days to cuts costs. A group of 10 state employee unions sued to stop the plan, and the state Supreme Court temporarily blocked Carcieri from implementing it until the case could be decided.
Afterward, Carcieri said the ruling left him no choice but to lay off 1,000 state workers to save money. Carcieri stopped threatening a government shutdown or mass layoffs after reaching tentative deals with union leaders.
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Reader Reactions
There you have it folks!!!
Many thanks to ristinks and Chesapeake for hitting home runs!!!
What is our solution?
Vote the bums out!!!
RKblues,
I’m certain that you work hard for your money, and are not over paid.
Whether or not you like Don Carcieri, in this situation he is doing the right thing holding council 94 at bay.
and… Kennethnk no matter what he promised the situation has changed…the world…has changed. This is not about your hate for Republicans or there lies.This about impending disaster and this J Michael Downey will take no prisoners.
The disaster?....Unions. This is not about working conditions anymore it’s about territory and Unions want it all.
I have read the the pros and cons of this untill I’m sick.
It’s Hawaii, California, and Little old Rhode Island ...we have the third highest income tax rate in the United States.
This ia a breeding ground for the Great White Shark…Unions.
Public Sector Unions Are Killing United States
Some five million private-sector workers have lost their jobs in the last year alone, and their unemployment rate is above 9% according to the BLS. By contrast, public-sector employment has grown in virtually every month of the recession, and the jobless rate for government workers is a mere 2.8%. For anyone who thinks such low unemployment numbers are good news, remember that the bulging public sector must be paid for with revenues that most governments don’t currently have.
...powerful and savvy, public unions have moved effectively to quash antitax movements. In New Jersey, public unions derailed a taxpayer revolt in 2005 by using their legislative clout to water down a bill that would have created a state constitutional convention to enact property-tax reform. Meanwhile, under pressure from unions, state legislatures in places like Florida have been tightening rules and requirements for passing voter initiatives and referenda—blunting a favorite tool of antitax groups.
In the private sector such efforts will still be subject to the demands of the marketplace. Employers who are too generous with pay and benefits will be punished. In the public sector, however, more union members means more voters. And more voters means more dollars for political campaigns to elect sympathetic politicians who will enact higher taxes to foot the bill for the upward arc of government spending on workers. That will be the pattern for the indefinite future unless taxpayers find a way to roll back the enormous power public workers have acquired.
Ristinks…you show state troopers and prison guards…guess what the Governor isn’t cutting their pays or giving them terrible contracts…but to the prison guards defense not many are making 100k…but look at the hours worked to get that pay…do you work 16 - 24 straight hrs in their nightmare…maybe we should let you take care of the prisoners at your house that will save the state money.
And as far as the DOT…do you work 3 days straight plowing without a break or being able to go home…I have a friend who made some extra money but again the hours worked to get that money were many hard hours…no one makes 100k doing 40 hours a week except the Administators or the Gov’s friends he gave jobs to…you’d probably be the one swearing if your roads weren’t plowed though.
Even if I worked 80 hrs a week I wouldn’t make 100k so your figures are way far fetched my friend as far as council 94 is concerned…most of us even with OT barely scratch 40k as I said most of the people making 100k or more either have put in brutal hours or are the Gov’s friends that he gave sweet heart jobs to.
The Governor likes to distort reality to saying we state workers in council 94 average 53,000 a year…I wish.
Real…I don’t consider my job a right at all I consider it a job…just like you consider your job a job…so where do you come off telling me I don’t deserve my paycheck…you don’t know me and you don’t know what I do every day…How would you like your boss telling you sorry but we’re going to have to start paying you what you made 10 years ago.
I’m a laborer and I do whatever needs to be done in whatever weather…sometimes my job can be very physical and demanding…to make sure people that come and use or visit our agency find it clean, well kept and safe…and I hate to tell you that most of our jobs have to be done or places would not function.
Again I can only speak of the place I’m employed at.
Real
If the Governor has no power then why have one?
What I wrote in my last coments was what Carcieri said to the people to vote for him it was his campaign slogan and he lied.
He didn’t say I will do all I promise if the legislature works with me he said he will do those things if elected he didn’t do squat for this state he sent it into the worst economic situation in the history of the state.
He did a lot for his cronies with tax cuts and contracts to there businesses and executive jobs to his buddies and made those people a whole lot of money.
Real
This is his web site statement 2008.
I am hopeful that the House and Senate will act on this plan quickly,” Carcieri said. (note: the House did approve a FY 2008 Supplemental Budget that was very close to what the Governor proposed.
Governor Carcieri said. “It will necessitate that both the executive and legislative branches continue to work closely on further spending reductions.
That statement from him proves that they passed what he basicly wanted it dosn’t say the legeslative was hellbent on destroying our state or not working with him the buck stops at the top but not when a Republican is in office the buck stops in the middle or the bottom anywhere but in the Republicans bosses lap.
Thank God it is almost over then we can start to clean up his mess.
God Bless America
To: Council 94…are you people for real? Everyone is picking on the state-workers….wait, let me go get a tissue!!!
Go on www.the moneytrail.org and see what these people make: Then click on “follow the money”......it list people by name:
I won’t do it on this post, but just wait, I will start naming names if you continue to rant about how this is unfair to the poor state-workers.
State-troopers—-$150,000/yr +
Prison Guards—$85,000/yr +
DOT workers—$100,000/yr +
Teachers—$100,000/yr +
You will see your neighbor and relatives listed here and how much they steal from the taxpayers: No my friend, it’s not the GOVERNER’S fault this happened. It’s the apathy in the State of RI and the electorate. Why do you think Speaker Murphy is leaving….he’s incompetent?? He looked the other way for political favors. Just watch: Many legislators will start to leave because there’s no more MONEY to siphon off the public trough. It’s going to take a long, long, long time to reverse the damage in this state the unions and politicians have caused the people.
Save the state of ri….2010 is just around the corner….vote the BUMS out!!
2010 is coming!!!
THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER
This one is a little different…
Two Different Versions! ..................
Two Different Morals!
OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and, plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green.‘
Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, ‘We shall overcome.‘
Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s sake.
Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because he doesn’t maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010
Rkbluez:
We are supposed to keep people employed when we cannot afford them?
When we should not need them?
There are cities that more populous than Rhode Island that spend significantly less.
There are counties that are geographically larger and more populous that spend significantly less than we do in Rhode Island and enjoy a better economy.
Are you saying state and municipal “jobs” are a right?
Are you kidding me? Are you a socialist?
Well said Kenneth…this Governor has been in 7 years and done squat…I’m tired of hearing his excuses and trying to put blame on the state workers and unions…he wasted more money on consultants and contractors who don’t even live or pay taxes in this state.
He was supposed to cut from the top but is always attacking the hard working union people like those of us in concil 94 who are lucky to average $25,000 to $35,000 a year and barely make ends meet…it really is pathetic…and a disgrace.
What kind of person signs a contract and then goes back on his word…the state workers have given back enough it’s time to look elsewhere to balance the budget Governor…it really isn’t about the money as much as vendetta and busting up the union and putting more hard working Rhode Islanders who pay taxes out on the street like he did with the company he got his golden parachute from.
And the guy who mentioned the Journel…that paper is so Republican biased…I wouldn’t waste my time reading it anymore…look at Arlene Violets article in the Breeze at least she in non biased.
Lets keep people working that live in Rhode Island and spend money and pay taxes in RI.
Kenneth:
If the legislature would have worked with Governor Carcieri instead of being so hellbent on destroying our state then he would have succeeded with his plans to increase jobs.
Instead, they chased businesses and taxpaying citizens away through overtaxation to prop up a failed system.
You should have read the article in the editorial section of the Journal on Wednesday. For such a small state, we should completely centralize at this point but the legislature will never let it happen.
The legislature has the power, not the governor. His hands have been tied on too many issues for too many years.
From RISC (http://www.statewidecoalition.com/)
Did you know?
Of $75 million in tax breaks to RI businesses last year:
$60M went to big businesses.
$12M went to out-of-state movie companies.
Only $3M went to RI small businesses.
95% of RI businesses are small, employing 280,000.
Join the conversation @ myrisc.com
Tman:
I am not sure that I explained that as well as I could have.
Let me give you an example.
If you are concerned about increased gambling in the state and tell your canvasser that you don’t want gambling then they will echo your sentiments and concerns back to you in potentially multiple communications—mail, telephone calls, emails, etc.
Meanwhile, 3 doors down from you, your neighbor that likes to gamble and wants to see a full fledged gambling facility in your state will indicate as much to the canvasser and it will be duly noted. The communications that your neighbor receives will echo their wishes and sentiments.
You will both think you are being heard by your candidate and will vote accordingly.
Got it?
They tell everybody just what they want to hear to get elected. It is NOT illegal to do this but it is disingenuous and bordering on fraudulent.
How many promises from the last elections have our politicians kept?
So far, this year of spending OUR money has been a disaster—doubling our debt, increasing the deficits that we have with other countries, using so-called stimulus money to enlarge the size of our government at every level. It is madness!!!
We cannot afford the “government” that we have in this state or at the federal level.
We need to stimulate businesses so that businesses can be competitive on a global scale. That is how we keep people working and that is how we can pay our debts.
We need to make some serious changes and the next two elections are the place to start.
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