Judge: Scranton, must pay employees full wages

Yahoo News ^ | Fri, Jul 6, 2012

[DeaconBenjamin]

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A judge has ordered the city of Scranton to pay employees full wages, but the mayor says the cash-strapped government can't afford it.

Lackawanna County Judge Michael Barrasse on Friday granted an injunction to unions challenging Mayor Chris Doherty's decision to impose minimum wages to nearly 400 employees. The Times-Tribune of Scranton reports paychecks containing the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour had already been issued.

Doherty says he can't print money and that City Council has to fulfill the obligations of their budget. City Administrator Ryan McGowan says the city would have only $83,000 available after making a minimum-wage payroll of $311,000.

Union attorney Thomas Jennings says he will again file a motion seeking to hold the mayor in contempt of court if paychecks do not contain full wages.

[Jim from C-Town]

Well, that sows it, time to file for bankruptcy and break those union contracts!

[junta]

Unions meeting reality at a high rate of speed.

[umgud]

Now this here is just plain funny and heart-warming.

[kabar]

This is judicial activism. How can a judge order a city to pay for something that it can't afford. I guess the only other decision is to fire most of these people and have the city suffer the consequences in terms of services.

This sounds like Obamacare and its mandate for the states to pick up 18 million more Medicaid patients.

[biggredd1]

joey bite me visits scranton...
http://www.centredaily.com/2012/07/05/3252137/biden-visits-scranton-for-fourth.html

[JoSixChip]

Cut the number of public employes in half and immediately stop all public assistance programs. That will put a dent in the deficit.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

The entire country is meeting reality head on, and reality is a pretty ugly beast.

[Grams A]

We have a whole lot more people in our city than in Scranton and our fire department is about 90% volunteer. City provides PPE, training two evenings a week and all day on Saturday and free pagers. Works great for us, is a good way for people to give back to the community and keeps costs low. But applicants do have to have a clean criminal and driving record.

[djf]

I was truly stuned when I saw the headlines they were getting paid minimum wage.

I thought “Hallelujah! Bout time!”

These public employees have been spending money like there’s no tomorrow for decades, probably more.
OTHER PEOPLES MONEY, I might add.

So now, finally, the chickens come home to roost and they reap what they sow.

If I was the mayor, what I would do is sit down with about five other people and go over EVERY SINGLE CHECK issued by the city for the last five years, salaries and wages included, and pretty much figure out whether they were justified, and if not, START SLASHING BUDGETS.

And until they were able to somehow come up with a plan to live within their means, no new expenditures, zero, not one thin dime!

[rockrr]

This is judicial activism. How can a judge order a city to pay for something that it can't afford.

While I agree in principle, I would remind you that this occurs almost every day in family courts across the country (demanding a payment beyond the ability of the payer).

And I agree about trimming the staff until they make ends meet. There are going to be some tough choices ahead (and idiot judges to further muck up an already bad situation).

[sirchtruth]

This is the most ridiculous non-nonsensical ruling ever. One week of original pay would wipe Scranton clean. WTH are these miscreants union dumbasses going to do when there are NO funds to pay them with the next week, demand more???

[sten]

don’t worry... just put it on the state’s bill...

which will put it on the fed’s bill...

which will put it on my bill.

the democrat plan since 1933

[VeniVidiVici]

"We're running into burning buildings, the police are fighting criminals and we're getting paid a rate of $7.25 an hour. It's ridiculous," said John Judge, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local Union No. 60, one of three unions who filed the lawsuit against Doherty and the city.

Ummmm. So quit.

[Svartalfiar]

<>390 public workers who had been earning between $19 to $36 an hour

How are they living paycheck-to-paycheck on that much? I make $16/hr, and average maybe 30hr/week over the year. And I can at least scrounge out a bit of extra money. If they're having that many issues, maybe they need a Budgeting 101 class.

I will admit, though, that that really does suck. However, he did the same for the council and himself, so it's not like he was singling out the unions (he's a D!).

[Ken H]

Coming soon to a union near you!

[randita]

PA Ping!

[Terry Mross]

The mayor should simply write them some hot checks. When they bounce and they try to get him on charges of writing checks with insufficient funds he can say “I did what the judge ordered me to do.”

[kabar]

City leaders in the state's capital of Harrisburg, meanwhile, were prepared to seek bankruptcy protection but were thwarted last week by state legislators who extended a bankruptcy filing ban until November 30.