by KYW's Mike Dunn
With contracts for Philadelphia city workers set to expire at month's end, Thursday was bringing salvos from both sides. Mayor Nutter is unveiling a pension restructuring that is sure to anger the unions, while the unions planned a rally in Love Park.
City managing director Camille Barnett says the mayor on Thursday is sending to City Council a proposal to restructure the pension plan for all new city workers:
"We have to reform the way we govern, and this is part of it. The simple truth is, we can't afford the status quo. We have to make changes."
This measure will likely be a battleground in the mayor's negotiations with city workers unions, whose contract expire on June 30th.
Pete Matthews (right), head of the largest union, District Council 33, has already turned thumbs down on the pension idea:
"We want new people to have a decent pension plan, we don't want them to have a reduced pension plan, so we're opposed to that."
Meantime, Barnett has drawn up contingency plans in case no deal is reached and the unions call a strike:
"We're not doing this because we expect something to happen immediately, but we want to be ready."
Matthews says a strike would be a last resort, and he criticizes the mayor's approach:
"I just don't like the way the mayor has been operating. It seems like the mayor wants to dictate terms instead of sitting down and negotiating. We know there's a fiscal crisis. But we think the things the mayor is trying to do is just overkill. We don't stand for concessions."
That will be part of DC 33's message at a union rally on Thursday in Love Park.
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