A proposal to force furloughs of city employees – scheduled to begin on Christmas Eve – lured a local union head to Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
Jersey City Public Employees’ union President Chuck Carol told the council that the furloughs will decrease city services and save relatively little money.
The administration of Mayor Jerramiah Healy said two weeks ago that they are considering furloughs as well as 200 permanent layoffs. First, the state must approve their plan.
The two-day-per month furloughs would continue for six months, beginning Dec. 24.
“Quite frankly, I feel that the furloughs are a bridge too far.” – Chuck Carol
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Carol’s pointed out that his members earn an average yearly salary of less than $31,000.
The only council member who responded to letters from Carol and the other unions was Councilman Steven Fulop.
Carol was adamant about the city doing everything it can to avoid layoffs.
“Quite frankly, I feel that the furloughs are a bridge too far,” Carol said. “It negatively impacts the delivery of services for a woefully small amount of savings.”
The city admitted in a recent Jersey City Reporter article that it would only save approximately $2 million from the temporary layoffs. The city is facing a budget deficit estimated conservatively at $42 million, but which could be as high as $73 to $78 million.
Alternatives
Carol also recommended that the city consider other cost-cutting measures, such as letting go of all non-permanent and seasonal employees (recurring temp employees) and filling their vacant positions with the full-time employees facing temporary and/or permanent layoffs.
He also proposed immediately terminating employees hired back by the city on a part-time basis after they had retired and received benefits.
Some members of the council acknowledged that they had received Carol’s letter. Councilwoman Viola Richardson said she did not respond to Carol because Mayor Healy and other city officials such as Business Administrator Brian O’Reilly did not sit down and discuss the city’s layoff plan with her.
“I can’t answer what I don’t know,” Richardson said. “All I know is what I read in the paper.”
Saving city jobs
Richardson then questioned O’Reilly about the proposed layoffs and ways to avoid them, saying the layoffs are being done on “the backs of the little people.” O’Reilly said the layoffs will only happen if the state approves the city’s application to carry out the layoffs, and he expects an answer by the end of November.
Richardson suggested the city look at curtailing the consultants hired for various services. Ironically, O’Reilly admitted during the meeting that if the furloughs (otherwise known as “temporary layoffs”) go through, the city will have to hire private firms to provide those services affected by the temporary layoffs.
Fulop also questioned if the Healy administration should have strictly enforced a hiring freeze before even proposing layoffs, pointing out that there have been 53 hires since May. O’Reilly tried to defend it by saying most of them were police officers, even though there were other positions, including a city attorney hired for $90,000.
Fulop also wanted to know when the City Council will be getting a municipal budget to look at so they can make cuts that would help avoid layoffs. O’Reilly said a draft of the budget would be available in November.
City Council President Peter Brennan told O’Reilly to let the council know about any future meetings between city employee unions and the administration. Brennan also called for the formation of a council subcommittee to study the layoffs further.
After the discussion, Carol said he welcomed “cooperation not confrontation” with the city on putting off the layoffs. But just in case, he has contacted state officials about his opposition to the layoffs.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.