Merit pay plan doesn’t go far enough

March 28, 2006 in Overset

I didn’t attend tonight’s City Council meeting, but I caught the dog and pony show on public access.

I listened to council members Barbara Van Auken and George Jacob on WCBU’s “Outside the Horseshoe” program explain the process used to arrive at the plan to eliminate “longevity pay” for managers and non-union employees. There was a compromise of sorts that allowed for most of the workers who have been receiving the longevity pay to continue to receive it in the form of regular pay (which means it will go toward determining how much pension they earn). But future longevity payments will end in favor of merit increases.

The savings will be far less than if the city had simply switched to merit.

I’m disappointed. This compromise will earn the council no respect from city unions, which would complain no matter what reform the council put in place to stop escalating salaries. But every dollar not spent rewarding employees simply because they avoided getting fired is a a dollar that could go toward re-opening Fire Station 11. The politically and economically correct thing to do would have been to insist on the real deal, and not this half measure which pleases no one.

Council member Chuck Grayeb continues to insist that there is no such thing as an underworked or overpaid government employee or manager, despite all evidence to the contrary. Grayeb, Gary Sandberg and Clyde Gulley voted against the measure.

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3 Responses to “Merit pay plan doesn’t go far enough”

PollyPeoria Says:
March 29th, 2006 at 10:39 am
Huh. Anyone out there think Grayeb has a shot in hell of being re-elected next year? Between longevity pay for non union employees and his aboslute devotion to buying the water company, I do believe Chuckie is toast.
Peo Proud Says:
March 29th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
The issue isn’t whether Grayeb will get reelected (we should have more politicians who speak their mind for what THEY believe in rather than what they think OTHERS want them to believe in - but I digress) but is the action taken by the Council appropriate and done appropriately.

Many view this is nothing more than an opportunity for some Council members to pay back those that helped them get elected (i haven’t fully succumbed to this view but am definately leaning that way). While I couldn’t listen or watch the meeting, I’m sure the discussion (if there was any) was full of we’re doing this for the good of the city and we value our employee (blah blah blah). Couple of things to think about:

1) How much of a raise did Mgmt employees get January 1? (answer: average of 2%)

2) How much did the average Union employee get January 1? (answer: average of over 4.5%)

editorial comments (seems fair so far right??)

3) How much will the council approve in annual pay increases to settle the current fire, police, teamster, electrician, painters, carptenters, and laborer’s contract that are currently under negotiations? (answer: unknown but I’ll buy anyone (and everyone in Peoria) a drink if the amount is equal to what they gave Mgmt - remember that was 2%). My prediction is it will average OVER 4.5% when you include base rate increases, step increases (not merit), and longevity increases plus other miscellaneous add-ons)

Still seem fair??

4) If the Council doesn’t like longevity, why isn’t it an issue that came up before now? (Answer: they can stick it to MGMT now and can’t bring it up in negotiations with the unions at this point without bargaining in bad faith - so the result is the unions get to keep it for another 2, 3, 4 years depending upon how long their contracts run).

5) Who implemented longevity? (Answer: a little digging in the Council records - contact City Clerk Haynes - will show that the Council approved reinstituting longevity pay about 7 years ago because while it had been eliminated for MGMT employees they were unable to remove it from labor contracts and needed to treat employees fairly.

6) While I’m not sure I’m a fan of longevity (prefer pay for performance for ALL employees), I am a believer in fairness and fair dealing. Something that continues to be lacking on Tuesday evenings.
Josh Harris Says:
March 30th, 2006 at 6:07 am
If the city council was so worried about money, they would have sold the Kellar Branch rail line to Pioneer for $565,000. That would pay for Engine 11 for the rest of the year and they would still have money to throw away at some stupid pet project.

Oh, I forgot, some family 2 hours away is going to say, “Where should we go for vacation this year? How about we go to Peoria and ride that new bike trail!”

People won’t ride that trail because of the hill. Heck, CIRY POWERED rail equipment couldn’t get up the hill, and they think families are going to ride their bikes up it.