Thread: Scranton, PA starts paying its emplopyees minimum wage even after court injunction

This is absolutely insane. How mismanaged of a system do you have to run where you can't make your employees payroll unless cutting everyone down to minimum wage and leaving only $5K in the bank? This isn't going to end well...

The city of Scranton, Pa., sent out paychecks to its employees Friday, like it does every two weeks. But this time the checks were much smaller than usual. Mayor Chris Doherty has reduced everyone's pay — including his own — to the state's minimum wage: $7.25 an hour.

Doherty says his city has run out of money.

Scranton has had financial troubles for a couple of decades — the town has been losing population since the end of World War II. But the budget problems became more serious in recent months as the mayor and the city council fought over how to balance the budget.

Doherty wants to raise taxes to fill a $16.8-million gap. The city council wants to take a different approach and borrow money. City council members did not respond to NPR's requests to discuss the dispute.

"I'm trying to do the best I can with the limited amount of funds that I have," Doherty says, "I want the employees to get paid. Our people work hard — our police and fire — I just don't have enough money and I can't print it in the basement."

After paying workers Friday, the city had only about $5,000 left in the bank. More money flowed into city accounts that day, but it was still not enough to pay the $1 million the city still owes to its nearly 400 employees.

Scranton's public workers received a few days' warning this was coming. John Judge, a firefighter and president of the International Association of Firefighters, Local 60, typically receives about $1,500 every two weeks, after deductions. On Friday his check was less than $600 — before deductions.

"Don't know how I'm going to pay bills at home. I may be able to stave it off for a little while," Judge says. "[The] kids aren't going to be able to do certain activities this summer — maybe we're not going to be able to go on vacation."

The firefighters' union, along with the police and public works unions, have taken the city to court. Lackawanna County Judge Michael Barrasse issued an injunction, essentially agreeing with the unions that the city was breaking the law, but Doherty says he doesn't have another choice. Despite the injunction, he had the city send out paychecks based on minimum wage.

The unions plan to be back in court first thing Monday morning to ask the judge to hold Doherty in contempt.

There's been no love lost between Doherty and the public employee unions because of this battle; they've already spent the past decade in a legal dispute over pay that went all the way to the state supreme court. Both sides come to this latest battle with plenty of baggage and hard feelings. But with nearly 400 city workers receiving a fraction of the pay they typically get, pressure is building to resolve the issue soon.

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/07/156416...o-minimum-wage

1. Deep pocketed Unions support pro-union candidates.

2. Pro-union politicians negotiate with the unions, which basically means the union is negotiating with itself.

3. Democrats are too stupid to stop voting for pro-union candidates.

4. After years unchecked, Government body full of pro-union liberal democrats bankrupts itself.

Greece - France - California - Stockton - Detroit - Scranton - Obama's America......

Yup, a lot of town/city governments are starting to feel the pain. Search highest paid public employees and a lot of them are from Stockton, CA or Cali which just went bankrupt.

A lot of these towns have relied on a building boom to generate income. Obviously, that has slowed/stopped in much of the US.

It's also the retirement system of these public employees. I have a family member who retired from being a state employee at age 50, receives 60% of salary every month, and gets free health care. He got another job 1 month after he "retired" and is still working-- earning two pay checks!



http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2...son_system.php

Originally Posted by Hott Butt Mud

It's also the retirement system of these public employees. I have a family member who retired from being a state employee at age 50, receives 60% of salary every month, and gets free health care. He got another job 1 month after he "retired" and is still working-- earning two pay checks!

That's just the tip of the iceberg if you think about it. The guy/gal who your relative replaced is probably still drawing a pension and they had to hire someone, probably a 25 year old, to take your relative's essential government position. The taxpayers are paying for three people to do one job. Nice!

Originally Posted by systemoverblow'd

This is absolutely insane. How mismanaged of a system do you have to run where you can't make your employees payroll unless cutting everyone down to minimum wage and leaving only $5K in the bank? This isn't going to end well...



http://www.npr.org/2012/07/07/156416...o-minimum-wage

I get the mayor's point, but it's lame to leverage public employees to try to force his budget through. Still, I like the idea of paying for city services rather than borrowing to punt the issue down the road a couple more years. I wonder what the council's political predominance is?

Originally Posted by Adolf Allerbush

I get the mayor's point, but it's lame to leverage public employees to try to force his budget through. Still, I like the idea of paying for city services rather than borrowing to punt the issue down the road a couple more years. I wonder what the council's political predominance is?

I read up on this.

City passed a budget for 2012, budget figured in Borrowing X dollars to meet 2012 obligations.
Banks required action plan (Raise taxes) to show ability to pay back loan.
City does not want to meet Bank demands
Bank does not loan money
City runs out of money

Pretty strait forward

As the Mayor said We are not the FED I can't go in the basment and print money

Originally Posted by MTT

I read up on this.

City passed a budget for 2012, budget figured in Borrowing X dollars to meet 2012 obligations.
Banks required action plan (Raise taxes) to show ability to pay back loan.
City does not want to meet Bank demands
Bank does not loan money
City runs out of money

Pretty strait forward

As the Mayor said We are not the FED I can't go in the basment and print money

Where have we seen this kind of blatant disregard for fiscal responsibility ????? Where would they get the idea that this was an acceptable way to run a city/county/state/country ??? Where o' where ?

What amazes me is that the past 20+ years has seen the decline of the middle class, stagnant wages and outsourcing of good jobs to the 3rd world and developing economies thru a series of trade agreements and tax incentives. We've reached a point in time where shitting on the few decent paying jobs left is seen as a better alternative than to make outsourcing unattractive and strengthen labor's hand so that the private sector can put itself in a better negotiation position to demand better compensation. Corps are sitting on hordes of cash, record profits, etc. and the masses are screaming at the public sector. Not because they have it so good, but because those in the private sector are getting fucked. But that seems to be our history: if someone else is doing better than you, blame them and drag them down with you. The net result will be exactly what the 1%ers want. Oligarchy, a small % of ultra rich and the rest of us are peasants. States and municipalities have been getting fleeced thru bad deals by Wall Street, and those crooks are skating while towns and counties are filing bankruptcy or facing Scranton's problems. This case is prolly just the tip of the iceberg.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...mafia-20120620

The LIBOR scandal is just another chapter that will develop.

Where are the scalps from these assholes? They and their institutions should have every last penny confiscated and toss these shitbags in prison for life.

Originally Posted by Moeghoul

What amazes me is that the past 20+ years has seen the decline of the middle class, stagnant wages and outsourcing of good jobs to the 3rd world and developing economies thru a series of trade agreements and tax incentives. We've reached a point in time where shitting on the few decent paying jobs left is seen as a better alternative than to make outsourcing unattractive and strengthen labor's hand so that the private sector can put itself in a better negotiation position to demand better compensation. Corps are sitting on hordes of cash, record profits, etc. and the masses are screaming at the public sector. Not because they have it so good, but because those in the private sector are getting fucked. But that seems to be our history: if someone else is doing better than you, blame them and drag them down with you. The net result will be exactly what the 1%ers want. Oligarchy, a small % of ultra rich and the rest of us are peasants. States and municipalities have been getting fleeced thru bad deals by Wall Street, and those crooks are skating while towns and counties are filing bankruptcy or facing Scranton's problems. This case is prolly just the tip of the iceberg.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...mafia-20120620

The LIBOR scandal is just another chapter that will develop.

Where are the scalps from these assholes? They and their institutions should have every last penny confiscated and toss these shitbags in prison for life.

Because they have that whole free speech thing going for them in the form of large cash donations to the party of their choosing.........

Originally Posted by OSECS

Because they have that whole free speech thing going for them in the form of large cash donations to the party of their choosing.........

Ahhh, the circle is complete. Touche. I guess we'll all have to put pitchfork and burning torch images on our smart phones and march down some virtual avenue on the Sims to express the outrage.

Originally Posted by OSECS

Where have we seen this kind of blatant disregard for fiscal responsibility ????? Where would they get the idea that this was an acceptable way to run a city/county/state/country ??? Where o' where ?

Starting with Reagan, then Bush I (although he raised taxes to try to cover some costs), Bush II and now Obama...that is if you're comparing to the federal government.

The legacy economy of Scranton was Steel correct?

I suspect that even if a Steel company wanted to start up a steel mill in or around Scranton they would not be able.

No google no seach, just a throwing a dart.

Originally Posted by MTT

The legacy economy of Scranton was Steel correct?

I suspect that even if a Steel company wanted to start up a steel mill in or around Scranton they would not be able.

No google no seach, just a throwing a dart.

EPA has been a mixed bag on some fronts.

Originally Posted by MTT

The legacy economy of Scranton was Steel correct?

I suspect that even if a Steel company wanted to start up a steel mill in or around Scranton they would not be able.

No google no seach, just a throwing a dart.

Scranton is coal country, they might have some nat gas to tap, not sure if they're in the Marsalis shale zone. Tough to compete against an unregulated economy under a communist regime. Did you guys know it costs 190,000$ to buy a Jeep Cherokee in China? That's the kind of bullshit that doesn't get much attention. That's the consequence of subordinating our trade deals to the WTO. Trump has one thing right, we get fucked at every turn. Once we've been knocked down to their level, I guess everything will be smooth sailing.

In other news, the shitbag bankers are cowards to boot.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...tml?ref=topbar

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...tml?ref=topbar

Originally Posted by Moeghoul

Scranton is coal country, they might have some nat gas to tap, not sure if they're in the Marsalis shale zone. Tough to compete against an unregulated economy under a communist regime. Did you guys know it costs 190,000$ to buy a Jeep Cherokee in China? That's the kind of bullshit that doesn't get much attention. That's the consequence of subordinating our trade deals to the WTO. Trump has one thing right, we get fucked at every turn. Once we've been knocked down to their level, I guess everything will be smooth sailing.

In other news, the shitbag bankers are cowards to boot.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...tml?ref=topbar

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...tml?ref=topbar

Yep that is a problem, But i do not belive the Government can fix that. It is up to you to fix that, I been preaching this forever (BUY AMERICAN)! don't buy cheap shit from companies that moved the labor overseas to make a buck, buy made in america every chance you get.
If half the people in the USA took the time to buy 10% more of thier shit MADE in the USA this would all fix itself very fast.

Fuck Corperate America and they ever increasing profit margin. Don't buy there shit.
Thats how you tell them fuck you for sending my job off shore

Walk into Walmart and ask to see the American made Flat screen TV's ?

There are none??? Well I guess I don't need one then?

If enough people did that there would be Flat screen TV made in the USA VERY QUICKLY

That's a great theory but almost impossible in practice. When cost is the deciding factor, few americans will step up and be "patriotic" and buy american. What will equalize things is if we threaten some trade tarriffs on our "protected" industries and the chinese workers and other developing countries start demanding better compensation. Tough to do at the barrel of a gun, but they have a history of putting their asses on the line when the inequities become overbearing. The difference is, when you come from abject poverty, a few bucks a day sounds like a fortune. So as long as we get screwed on the import/export side of things and the foreign worker is happy with their conditions and compensation, we'll keep swirling into the toilet.

Originally Posted by MTT

Yep that is a problem, But i do not belive the Government can fix that. It is up to you to fix that, I been preaching this forever (BUY AMERICAN)! don't buy cheap shit from companies that moved the labor overseas to make a buck, buy made in america every chance you get.
If half the people in the USA took the time to buy 10% more of thier shit MADE in the USA this would all fix itself very fast.

Fuck Corperate America and they ever increasing profit margin. Don't buy there shit.
Thats how you tell them fuck you for sending my job off shore

Walk into Walmart and ask to see the American made Flat screen TV's ?

There are none??? Well I guess I don't need one then?

If enough people did that there would be Flat screen TV made in the USA VERY QUICKLY

I think Sharp TVs are assembled here and probably some others as well...but then again, so are some foreign automakers like Hondas, Toyotas, etc. I try to buy American at every opportunity...good luck finding an iPhone made in the USA. The definitions of made in America or made in China are misleading too...there' are components of the iPhone made in the US, I think gorilla glass is one...but then all that shit gets shipped to China for assembly. China does shit differently too...rather than automate, for example the manufacturing of shoes like Keen does, they have people do a lot of shit by hand like Nike manufacturing abroad (I think that's done in Vietnam tho)...this keeps their population employed, but is inefficient...anyhow, my point is that it's hard to buy something purely "made in America" so I try to do my best. No TVs made in the US, but some are assembled here, so go with that.

Then again, think of other countries where just about nothing is made domestically...is this just an issue American's have?

Originally Posted by Adolf Allerbush

I think Sharp TVs are assembled here and probably some others as well...but then again, so are some foreign automakers like Hondas, Toyotas, etc. I try to buy American at every opportunity...good luck finding an iPhone made in the USA. The definitions of made in America or made in China are misleading too...there' are components of the iPhone made in the US, I think gorilla glass is one...but then all that shit gets shipped to China for assembly. China does shit differently too...rather than automate, for example the manufacturing of shoes like Keen does, they have people do a lot of shit by hand like Nike manufacturing abroad (I think that's done in Vietnam tho)...this keeps their population employed, but is inefficient...anyhow, my point is that it's hard to buy something purely "made in America" so I try to do my best. No TVs made in the US, but some are assembled here, so go with that.

Then again, think of other countries where just about nothing is made domestically...is this just an issue American's have?

Well at least you’re looking at it.

I can tell you the people in countries like Germany pay attention to things like this. They buy German for the most part whenever they can.

They understand supporting a standard of living by support their countrymen.

Americans also used to understand that.

Corporations’ are not going to do anything any different if the American people put up with it.

We don't have to buy everything made in America, but just where you can. With the Internet and online retailing this is getting very easy.

and every time you chose to buy American Clothing or Shoes or tools, ect ect you are helping the economy, You are helping yourself much more directly than most people realize.

A simple example, a 15 dollar pair of American made Underpants are more comfortable and last much longer than the 15 dollar package of underwear from Hanes or Fruit of the Loom.

1 little thing but in the scheme of things it makes a BIG deal.

Next time your looking to buy a Ski Jacket look at a Jacket made in Leadville CO rather than a Marmot made in Chine.
Even if the USA Jacket is not quite as good? But really look what you are doing for Americans buying that Jacket, versus giving 500$ of pure profit to a multinational corporation who spent nothing making the Jacket and does not give a fuck about you

Originally Posted by Moeghoul

What amazes me is that the past 20+ years has seen the decline of the middle class, stagnant wages and outsourcing of good jobs to the 3rd world and developing economies thru a series of trade agreements and tax incentives. We've reached a point in time where shitting on the few decent paying jobs left is seen as a better alternative than to make outsourcing unattractive and strengthen labor's hand so that the private sector can put itself in a better negotiation position to demand better compensation. Corps are sitting on hordes of cash, record profits, etc. and the masses are screaming at the public sector. Not because they have it so good, but because those in the private sector are getting fucked. But that seems to be our history: if someone else is doing better than you, blame them and drag them down with you. The net result will be exactly what the 1%ers want. Oligarchy, a small % of ultra rich and the rest of us are peasants. States and municipalities have been getting fleeced thru bad deals by Wall Street, and those crooks are skating while towns and counties are filing bankruptcy or facing Scranton's problems. This case is prolly just the tip of the iceberg.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...mafia-20120620

The LIBOR scandal is just another chapter that will develop.

Where are the scalps from these assholes? They and their institutions should have every last penny confiscated and toss these shitbags in prison for life.

Speaking of LIBOR........So it looks like lawyers are gonna suck dry whatever little is left in the well.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1665708.html

Originally Posted by Adolf Allerbush

I get the mayor's point, but it's lame to leverage public employees to try to force his budget through. Still, I like the idea of paying for city services rather than borrowing to punt the issue down the road a couple more years. I wonder what the council's political predominance is?

I'm sure they leveraged to "poor" and the "children" for 30 years to get where they got. Fuck'em.

Originally Posted by Moeghoul

Speaking of LIBOR........So it looks like lawyers are gonna suck dry whatever little is left in the well.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1665708.html

That type of litigation is almost !00% done by plaintiff firms representing the local government under contingent fee arrangements.... the attorney bears all the cost of litigation (and the risk). While they do dig their noses deep into the trough if successful it's pretty much the only way any recovery can be made against defendants like that....

Originally Posted by PNWbrit

That type of litigation is almost !00% done by plaintiff firms representing the local government under contingent fee arrangements.... the attorney bears all the cost of litigation (and the risk). While they do dig their noses deep into the trough if successful it's pretty much the only way any recovery can be made against defendants like that....

Most likely this will get bundled into some form of class action and there'll be a global settlement. Not sure if the contingency fee is universal, I think some towns/ cities have in house counsel or they will contract hourly or a set rate for outside counsel when there's complex litigation.

Originally Posted by Moeghoul

Most likely this will get bundled into some form of class action and there'll be a global settlement. Not sure if the contingency fee is universal, I think some towns/ cities have in house counsel or they will contract hourly or a set rate for outside counsel when there's complex litigation.

Scranton house counsel don't win litigation against Barclays. Nor do "set rate" ones, after all we're not talking about Dan Samas pleading DBS 3rd speeding ticket of the week down to a texting and driving infraction.

You can believe me, this type of stuff.....is done under contingent fee agreement.

This is not much different than what Ronald Reagan did to the US Military in the 80s. He just cancelled an entire payday.

30 years downrange everyone thinks Reagan was good for the military, but I was on active duty then and everyone hated his guts for the blatently phony move he did with our pay.

Not hard to claim you "balanced the budget" or "cut the deficit" when you eliminate an entire payday from your fiscal year.

Originally Posted by PNWbrit

That type of litigation is almost !00% done by plaintiff firms representing the local government under contingent fee arrangements.... the attorney bears all the cost of litigation (and the risk). While they do dig their noses deep into the trough if successful it's pretty much the only way any recovery can be made against defendants like that....

Ummmm... no.