Without shouting or even much posturing, city councilors Wednesday approved a new union contract for many City Hall workers that increases their pay slightly but opens the door to major cost-cutting down the road.
Only the two Republican councilors, Ken Cockayne and David Mills, voted against the pact with Local 233 of Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which generally includes most of City Hall’s “inside” workers.
They said with the economy in the dumps, state and federal aid likely to sink and more financial troubles ahead, the city should have taken a harder line. Click here for the full story.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
16 comments:
Dave and Ken I applaud your courage to stand up to the mindless Democrats in this city! To hand out raises when most businesses is this state is thinking about closing up and most corporate places did not give raises this year is a slap in the face to every hard working tax payer. I understand that a majority of people that work for the city are tax payers also, but the % of people that pay taxes and that work at city hall out weighs the number of people that pay taxes and do not work at city hall. City employees also need to understand they work for a city that makes money on property taxes and fees for service. Should I repeat that last sentence until your ears bleed! If the city thinks that giving raises is a better investment then cutting taxes or reducing spending then I would tell most people you should move out of Bristol.
I need to run for Councilman
I believe the unions gave away lots and I don't think their meager raise is going to amount to a whole hill of beans. Let's not be so dramatic. Yes, EVERYONE is suffering and I suppose you'd like to see a bunch of city employees laid off, which will add to the unemployment rolls and ad to more people going into foreclosure which adds to the housing stock that is already flooded with foreclosed homes which means taxes aren't being paid which, in the end, means the city ends up losing BIG TIME compared to a small raise for local 233. Stop and look at the BIG picture before you start congratulating these two gentlemen who haven't obviously considered the alternative to agreeing to this contract.
"anonymous said"
sorry but you can't run as "the anonymous" councilman, you need to show your name and face.
as for dave and ken, their party got us in the trouble we are...dems are working on cleaning up the mess republicans created. we don't forget that easy.
Independent Voter
ken cockayne, stop hiding behind this blog, we know it is you!
I'll bet that if this agreement was to be costed out, that it would show that it will be costing the city taxpayers.
Maybe that is why they don'tdo the analysis!
9:00 - Only thing the Democrats will be cleaning up is their offices come Election Day 2010. Took a mere 2 years for virtually the entire country to shift its allegiance from heavily Democrat to heavily Republican. And CT Democrats are responsible for the mess this state is in, not former US Republican Senators and Reps. Republicans have never had a majority in CT, so nice try. This is on the Dems and their idiotic tax and spend mentality.
5:11 - we agree that you should run to be a city council member but please do it someplace other than bristol, we have enough gop losers already.
the only way to get this city back on track it to freeze all spending! ALL SPENDING for the next 3 years!
Both parties are to blame. The democrats have never learned how to stop spending and start cutting thus looking to the taxpayers time and time again to bail them out of their spending habits. The republicans haven't had a decent idea since ronald reagan was in office. The whole issue is it's turned into what's good for the dems or the GOP instead of what's good for the whole country who elected them. Perhaps if they all go back to their grass roots, they will come up with something better than what's going on now. They are too far removed from the here and now ... all of them!
The democrats have held the top position 15 of the last 17 years. How many contracts did they approve during that time?
They controlled the council ALL those years.
So who really created this mess?
Ken, why not do SOME homework and come up with somethng specific?
Or can't you?
Ken and Dave (what a team) still haven't learned that the small raises are just the tip of the iceberg.
But then, do they really care as long as they get the headlines?
Wonder how much Ward will get from the Unions for his campaign after promising them it would go through? No wonder Whinny Ward was upset at the first meeting - he was afraid the unions would take back their checks.
Ward has been and will be a union hack.
Wise up Bristol!
To 4:39:
Why all the cryptic talk? What do you mean just the tip of the iceberg? Please share.
9:54
How about all the other expenditures?
Unnecessary street sweeping
Unnecessary projects
Unjustified promotions and increases
Inadequate evaluation of use of employees
Misuse of city vehicles
The city will be facing dire economic circumstances for years to come: that should be addressed now.
whats funny is that they go ahead and give the union a raise - but we all know that they are going to lay-off - makes no sense at all!
It makes perfect sense once you understand that these unions exist to protect senior members (and their Sugar Daddy Art Ward), not junior members. It's the senior members who will enjoy their raise, and the junior members who will lose their jobs to pay for it.
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