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Scranton moves ahead with minimum wage pay for city workers despite injunction
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| Contributor | Penguin |
| Last Edited | Penguin Jul 08, 2012 06:43pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Saturday, July 7, 2012 12:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | In defiance of an injunction issued in Lackawanna County Court, hundreds of city employees will open their checks today to find they were paid only minimum wage for their work.
Amid Scranton's ever-deepening financial crisis, Mayor Chris Doherty said his administration is going forward with a plan to unilaterally slash the pay of 398 workers to the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour with today's payroll, insisting it is all the city can afford.
That will likely earn administration officials an appointment with Judge Michael Barrasse, who granted the city's police, fire and public works unions a special injunction temporarily barring the administration from imposing the pay cuts after a brief hearing Thursday.
Mr. Doherty, who did not attend the hearing, said afterward he understands and respects Judge Barrasse's perspective, but the city lacks the cash to meet the full payroll.
"We have enough money to make the minimum payroll," Mr. Doherty said. "The judge can rule against us, but I don't know how to pay the money. ... We'll pay them as much as we've got, but that's what we've got."
Business administrator Ryan McGowan said the city transferred $311,000 - the amount needed to cover the minimum-wage payroll - to its payroll processing vendor, leaving about $5,000 in the bank Thursday. City officials have said the pay cut is temporary, and employees will be made whole once the city's cash-flow situation improves. |
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