Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy has proposed temporary layoffs, also known as mandatory furloughs, for Jersey City employees – except fire and police – for 12 days over a six-month period. The city is also considering up to 200 permanent layoffs.
According to city spokesperson Jennifer Morrill, the city estimates $2 million in savings from the temporary layoffs.
The six-month period for furloughs would start on Christmas Eve and end in June, in order to deal with a budget gap of somewhere between $40 and $70 million.
The furloughs would be for 12 days over six months.
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The letters were sent by Jersey City Municipal Employees Local 245, Jersey City Public Employees Local 246, and the Jersey City Supervisors’ Association.
The letter from the Local 246 President Chuck Carol said the city should withdraw the temporary layoff policy altogether or decrease the number of days, as the employees he represents earn an average salary of $31,000.
Carol also said in the letter that the layoffs save very little money for the city and “drastically impact the delivery of essential city services.”
Local 245 said they are willing to accept one day a month temporary layoff, while the Jersey City Supervisors Association said the temporary layoff proposal is “not acceptable in its present form.”
Local 246, the largest of the three unions, represents 650 workers who do white collar work such as administration. Local 245 represents about 200 workers who do blue collar work such as mechanics. The Jersey City Supervisors Association has 120 members.
Mayor Jerramiah Healy said on Wednesday that he understood the union’s concern but said the layoff was how the city would “see some savings” and that everyone including himself is talking the furlough. Healy makes $117,000 a year.
Anything but layoffs
Chuck Carol, who has worked for the city since 1977, said he found out about both the temporary and permanent layoffs when the heads of the municipal employee unions met with Assistant Business Administrator Roger Greco on Sept. 28. Carol said he came out of that meeting furious, but not at Greco.
Instead, he saved his scorn for Healy and the city’s business administrator, Brian O’Reilly, for not being more honest about how the city will save very little money from the layoffs to deal with a dire budget situation.
“The mayor is proposing temporary layoffs that will amount to maybe one to two million dollars, while suggesting there will be permanent layoffs on top of that,” Carol said. “And then you have Brian telling the press there is $42 million budget deficit while various administration officials have told me the number is in the range of $73 to $78 million.”
Carol also wonders why the city is not considering other cost-cutting alternatives before layoffs such as letting go all non-permanent and seasonal employees (recurring temp employees) and filling their vacant positions with those full-time employees facing temporary and/or permanent layoffs.
He also floated the idea of terminating immediately employees hired back by the city on a part-time basis after they had retired and received benefits. Healy said he disagreed with this suggestion because if those employees were terminated, then the city would lose “highly trained and knowledgeable” people.
Carol said the city should also look at savings at the Police and Fire Departments, who are exempt from the proposed layoffs, such as mandating disability retirements for employees unable to perform their jobs, eliminating discretionary overtime and staffing, and making a reduction in management.
Carol noted that the employees represented by the three unions have gone without a contract for over a year.
But Carol is optimistic. He recalled the employee unions back in 1999 fighting against former Mayor Bret Schundler’s layoff proposals, which Schundler then dropped. And Carol plans to address the City Council at their next meeting this coming Wednesday with members of his union.
Not lying back
Carol got one response within 12 hours of sending his letter. That response came from City Councilman Steven Fulop, who said the Healy administration should have stuck to a hiring freeze rather than bringing on 53 new employees since the beginning of the fiscal year in July. Fulop also would like to see the council get a budget plan soon so they can discuss the cuts necessary to avert layoffs.
“We can look at redundancies and overlaps where the city and county departments are doing the same work and we could combine the two,” Fulop said. “The layoffs will hurt the people in a tough economy.”
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.