"Me Too" Clause Increases Pay For City Hall Managers
Managers at City Hall have declared that city-wide budget cuts, made in the wake of the June budget battle should come from somewhere other than their salaries the Tattler has learned. Tucked inside a July 20 memo, penned by Assistant City Manager Delores Turner for the City Council's consideration, is language that would restore the pay (an effective increase) of managers at City Hall. The managers had earlier agreed to a pay cut to help defray the budget crisis.
The memo reports that the Management of Emeryville Services Authority (MESA), a collection of non-union city employees at the management level, has decided to recommend to the City Council to vote to increase their pay at Tuesday night's council meeting. The memo says that if the Service Employee SEIU union member underlings are able to negotiate a lower contribution rate to their retirement, then all the non-union managers will automatically get the same deal, hence the use of the term 'me too'.
The memo falsely justifies this pay increase for top level managers by claiming the managers earn "comparable salaries" to the union employees when the union employee "greater pay provisions (such as overtime compensation)" is considered and so in the interest of 'fairness' they should be let out of the previous pay cut agreement. This argument was made because the SEIU had earlier stated that most employees under its representation don't make enough money to allow a cut in pay owing to the high cost of Bay Area living. The management at City Hall has not made that argument, until now.
A check of the facts shows the pay related claims made by the managers in Ms Turner's letter are incorrect. In 2009, gross pay amounts for all city employees show only two SEIU-represented employees earned more than $88,000 gross (including overtime) while 24 unrepresented employees earned more than that amount. These facts belie the oft claimed unsustainable nature of the city's pension costs being based on the high SEIU employee compensation, the majority of which earn less than $60,000.
I just read the staff report. I encourage everyone else to also. Since Brian didn't even include a link to it, I will.
ReplyDeletehttp://emeryville.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=16&meta_id=19278
There is no mention of a pay increase. The temporary pay cut is simply not being extended and was never intended to be. Last year the staff had money taken away on a one year basis. This year it would not be taken away. That is not the same thing as a pay increase at all! That is a pay restoration. Last year's pay cut was never intended to be permanent. It should be noted that City staff are also giving up two years of cost of living adjustments, thus taking pay CUT over two years in real dollars when inflation is taken into account.
The intellectual dishonesty in this blog entry is unbelievable! Brian writes, "The memo falsely justifies this pay increase for top level managers by claiming the managers earn 'comparable salaries' to the union employees ..." His quoted phrase appears no where in the staff report. Also, he claims that, "This argument was made because the SEIU had earlier stated that most employees under its representation don't make enough money to allow a cut in pay owing to the high cost of Bay Area living. The management at City Hall has not made that argument, until now." However, if you read the memo, you will see that no one is making this argument.
The 'me too' clause makes perfect sense to me. Why should there be different retirement benefits among employees except for public safety employees. The staff recommendation would create a two-tier retirement system where new hires would get worse benefits than existing employees. That sucks enough already. There is no reason to further reduce retirement benefits for only some employees. Management employees lack the right or ability to negotiate their benefits. It makes sense that they should get the same benefits as union employees rather than be walked all over by the City administration and the Council.
Read the staff report and decide for yourself. The facts become clear when you do this.
Disclosure: I am a member of SEIU Local 1021.
The anonymous commenter above is incorrect when (s)he says my quote from the memo is not in the memo. The quote "comparable salaries" is a direct quote. I clearly say in the first part of the story that a pay restoration is equivalent to a pay raise. The SEIU said they felt their represented workers don't make enough for a pay cut. I agree with this; I feel anyone making less that $60,000 a year, the majority of SEIU workers in Emeryville, should not get a pay cut, $60,000 is not enough to have a decent living in the Bay Area. To equate that with people that make $100,000 or even over $200,000 is absurd. We are trying to deal with a drastic budget crisis. The idea of "ability to pay" is a cogent and rational argument and should be the way a reasonable city deals with a budget crisis. To balance the budget on the backs of those with a lesser ability to pay is not how a moral public policy should be formulated.
ReplyDeleteThe first commenter says this story is dishonest. He says the quote appears nowhere in the memo. This is BS. This guy said to read the memo...so I did. Cut and pasted from the memo:
ReplyDelete"In addition, utilizing the ‘me too’ language (often used in collective bargaining agreements to ensure employees covered by one bargaining unit that settles and signs an agreement earlier maintain equitable benefits/pay treatment to those that bargain at a later time), communicates to the unrepresented employees that their benefits will remain comparable to other miscellaneous employees that are represented and who in many cases earn comparable salaries with greater pay provisions (such as overtime compensation.)"
So you can see the story is accurate. Good job, Brian.
You are correct. I searched for the phrase and for some reason it did not come up. However, the argument that Brian claims the management is making appears nowhere in the memo and Brian does not include any other citation for this argument. I still encourage anyone who is interested in this subject to read the memo. It becomes very apparent that Brian is drastically misconstruing the issue.
ReplyDeleteJust because that quote appears in the memo does not make this blog entry accurate.
Some people are more equal than others as the communists say. Even 60k, the lower pay scale, would be gobbled up at a lower rate of pay in this economy and job market. The City and the Unions have their hands in my back pocket and it is about time they get their filthy hands off.
ReplyDeleteCommunists don't say some people are more equal than others...just the opposite. I don't get the reference.
ReplyDeletePlease someone offer me a $60,000 a year job.
ReplyDeleteThe reference comes from "Animal Farm".
ReplyDelete