LEAK AT CITY HALL LEADS TO BOILING CONFUSION

by Michael Monks
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The Covington public workers facing layoffs as early as Wednesday via the recently passed budget contigency plan learned their fate last week. That is earlier than most of the city administration had planned. Following an executive session between the mayor, commission and city administration Tuesday where an actual list of names selected for layoff was presented, the contents of the list got out to the three public unions.

That prompted a special meeting the following day, Wednesday, between city administration and members of AFSCME Local 237.

"Certainly, the negotiation team for AFSCME Local 237 was surprised last Wednesday to be notified that certain positions covered under our working agreement were slated for layoffs, as we continue to meet weekly and exchange proposals, including multiple healthcare proposals, in an effort to stave off these union-busting job reductions," said Michelle Robinson-Wilson, a member of the AFSCME negotiating team.

"We were further surprised to find that the City has no intention of following the clearly defined rules for lay-offs outlined in our current Working Agreement," Robinson-Wilson said.

Roughly twenty-five employees within the city's three public unions representing fire, police and public improvement/dispatch workers face layoffs as part of the effort to close a projected $4 million hole in this year's budget.

"There are thirteen seasonal workers who should be laid off before a single member of our Union is fired," Robinson-Wilson said. "To lay off those thirteen workers beginning August 1, would save the City $97,240.00, which is certainly enough money to save the AFSCME jobs slated for layoff in the Department of Public Improvement."

After months of verbal sparring with the unions, one instance even leading to a public apology toward a police detective, Commissioner Steve Frank lashed out at the leak, as the only official to offer comments in an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

"If someone is laid off, it's gonna hurt whomever, but they should be entitled to a certain amount of dignity, with their exit package and dignity in tact," Frank told The River City News, Monday. "On a personal basis, I feel for everyone who's gonna lose their jobs. Its not easy being the one doing it."

Frank's compassion follows a leading role in the public debate over the city's deficit and the role public union contracts may play in it. In the eyes of the unions, Frank's role was that of the villain.

"He’s not afraid of pissing people off because he’s not concerned with re-election," said a union source to The River City News. "He continues to spread false information in an effort to turn public sentiment against the unions."

Frank has derided the public unions on Facebook with comments like, "It was more politically expediant in the past to take any extra money the city came by and feed it to our unions," and, "You can see that its (sic) been like pulling teeth to get any help from the unions."

"I'm not Darth Vader," said Frank to The River City News. "When we let a person go for cause on Wednesday, it's the first time I've ever laid anyone off. It's a lot different when you're looking at names on a page than in the abstract. I know we have to make serious layoffs. I'm not afraid to explain why they must happen."

The city administration and commission will meet again Tuesday at 4PM followed by a meeting Wednesday in which some public employees will be delivered their exit package.

"We're not gonna let (the leak) interfere," Frank said. "It didn't have to be this way."

Some employees who are laid off may use a process known as "bumping" to save their own job. "(It's) a clause in our working agreement which allows for workers with seniority to "bump" workers having less seniority," Robinson-Wilson said., "which would, in effect, mean that even more employees will eventually have to have these meetings, because the employees called in initially may have the ability to retain employment within the City by bumping other employees from their position(s)."