COMPENSATED ABSENCE LIABILITY

Plaintalker's article of Oct 15/16 about "Compensated Absence Liability" only increases the concern everyone of us should have about the imminent financial future of the city.

This is budget time and I fear that the process will be business as usual. Home foreclosures will have depleted the taxable base. Reliance on state aid is looking for a pie in the sky. The city has mortgage its future with bond issues, pension plans, self insurance, and unrestricted Compensated Absence Liability. I refer you to Plaintalker's article's figures as to how much is owed to date.

Since those of us who had saved for retirement have seen our resources evaporate as much as 40% to date, it seems to be a case of financial rape by employees protected by union contracts to be able to received full days pay for days that they did not use as sick or personal time for which they were already paid, This is another case of good intentions being abused. Also since business puts limits on those days why has not municipalities and state/county agencies not done so.

Unless this city and others can not come to some relief agreement with the unions for relief from the money perks written into their contracts the only salvation will be bankruptcy. All parties should review what financial obligations union contracts have force the city to agree with in light of today's money crisis.

I support Unions except when they put themselves into a position to blackmail their employers, in these cases the municipality. Sometimes in the commercial field their actions can backfire. An example was the Mack Truck Union which made such demands that the company moved out of the state and abandoned a plant that was already cost inefficient and antiquated. A little give would have kept them here for more years.

When it comes to civic unions they often use the blackmail of stooping services and in effect endangering the community. These unionists must learn that a government can only support so many jobs and a limit to expenses or else it must declare bankruptcy. I would presume in that case all contracts would become null and void. Perhaps some of our legal readers could enlighten us?

In the next few weeks we will get a true picture of Plainfield's financial status. I hope that I am crying wolf.

Addendum: 8:00 AM-I learned this morning that the Social Security COLA has bee set at 5.8% this year. If true that would be a limit level that the lowest echelon of workers could use for pay increases. I would hope that the Unions would take into account that for the past several years the Social Security payout has increased at 2% + or- despite the true cost of living. Mandated city raises have been greater. I hope that those with adequate pay scales will see fit to waive their raise this year.

What happens to employees if their job position with its description is abolished and a new titled position with an altered description but doing the same general functions replaces the original job? I know that the BOE seems to have done that to give large raises, would not the contrary be applicable?