Mayor sets ultimatum with city unions
by Donnie Bernabei
DNN Staff - EXCLUSIVE!
Monday, Mar. 8, 2009
Little has changed.
Another four years have passed, and Mayor Menino is in another fierce battle with city unions. The only difference between now and then is that Mumbles didn't approve his own 25 grand pay hike this time around. Instead he chose to cut his salary by 3 percent just to send a message to everyone else.
You see, since 2001, the mayor's salary has jumped from $120,000 to $175,000, which has given him a whopping $140,000 pension. And along the way, he has done nothing except tax and spend your hard-earned cash, which is why I consider him the master of disaster when it comes to the security of the taxpayers of this city.
You think I'm kidding? Let's just take a look at some of his spending habits that stand out.
Do you remember when Menino built his own tax-funded bomb shelter at city hall, because he feared his life was in jeopardy if his city was the subject of a terrorist attack? His shopping spree included an extra-large $500 gas mask for himself, HD TV's and state-of-the-art equipment. Forget if anyone else had nowhere to hide if a bomb went off in this city.
His shopping spree even got better. Down the road, Menino became the proud owner of a brand new taxpayer-funded $40,000 Ford Expedition. This is right after he made a statement that everyone in the city should go hybrid. It was another one of his “Do as I say not as I do” messages he sent to all the taxpayers.
He later approved one of his own 25 grand pay hikes. And if that wasn't enough, he even granted his city councilors a hefty one, too. Let me remind you that all these hikes were sneaked by the board for approval at the time.
And guess what? Just about everything I mentioned above came at a time when everyone was losing their jobs, due to a $3 billion deficit the state was suffering from.
There's a lot more, but now onto reform.
As of today, massive reform in city government is needed. The list of retiree's who double-dip the system has continued to grow, where they collect hefty pensions while they are hired back to work at a less-stressful city job. This includes the mayor's son who was clocked in with 310 hours of OT for 2008.
I could go on, but by now I'm sure you get the picture. So much corruption and no reform, resulting in so much of your tax dollars being wasted through the years under Mayor Tom Menino.
And now just last week, Mumbles threatened all city unions to accept a one-year wage freeze by March 15, or there will be massive layoffs throughout the city. And even if they do agree, the mayor said that there still could be layoffs. Then there are some unions that have already been working without a contract, being asked to freeze their wages for another year.
You see, with Menino it's always been more, more, more. He has turned Boston into a city that heavily relies on taxes, fees and fines. And the only thing we have received in return is more taxes, fees and fines, now with unfair threats of massive layoffs included.
So, if you want to give an ultimatum to city workers who are the backbone in keeping this city running each day, Mr. Mayor, they along with others will set an ultimatum for you:
Nov. 3, 2009.
lay off 700 city workers if city unions don't accept a
one-year pay freeze. (DNN Staff photo)
Unlike the others, we tell you what's really happening.
vote for McCrea!
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