Friday, December 06, 2013
The Unions Got What They Wanted...Almost at Yesterday's Commission Meeting. By Geniusofdespair
They didn't get a veto proof vote. Lynda Bell, Steve Bovo and Sally Heyman voted against giving them back their 5% so they only got 8. Veto proof is 9. Zapata and Pepe Diaz were absent. This might prove a troublesome vote for Lynda's reelection campaign.
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23 comments:
I salute Bell, Bovo, and Heyman for standing up to the unions. Remember what happened to Alvarez and Seijas who did everything the unions demanded and who received full union support at campaign time? They were both recalled by 90% of the voters. Most people hate government unions.
The 3,700 county employes who received more than $100k in salary last year just got another fat pay raise. I wish I had relatives in the system so I could get a government job.
Poor tea partiers. ^^ :(
The greedy unions and their overpaid members will not be happy until we become the next Detroit.
Maria; Can you give more details? I am a non-union employee counted among the 2,700 mentioned in the Herald under the Mayor's purview. I do not earn over $100,000 - in fact I earn MUCH less. Since January 2008, my salary has decreased by over 20%. I know for a fact the county's pay system is inequitable (especially for non-union employees) but I can never get my hands around the issue. I would be interested in more specifics if you would be interested in sharing them.
Veto override is 2/3 of those Commissioners present when they take the vote. If all 13 are present for the override, you are correct that it will take 9 to override. Remember when they overrode the veto of the 5% restoration for the WASD workers a couple months back? I think there were only 7 Commissioners on the dais and they overrode it with 5 votes. Plus, Diaz sent a note to his colleagues that indicated he would be willing to support restoring the 5% for all of the unions. I could be wrong, but I believe he voted to give the 5% to WASD workers a couple of months ago.
Maria,
Dont drink the Kool-Aid this is being reported as a pay raise when it fact is getting a 5% that was taken away from hard earned salaries. A 5% which is gone forever for the years this has been in place.
Gimenez had no problem giving Juan Kuryla a massive $300,000County Director's salary, a 70% increase while the current Port Director remains in his job and while all other employees get cuts. Kuryla's background includes reassignment from his Public Works post to a remote field location because of improprieties, personal bankruptcy, coworker love affair leading to divorce, shady dealings with potential port vendors and clients resulting in Inspector General investigation, scheming to get PBSJ a port contract at the same time PB was being indicted for fraud, a fraudulent scheme with convict Hardemon for material hauling from the Port, wining and dining family and friends on the county credit card on foreign junkets, an embarrassing episode in Dubai on County business, inability to show up for work before 10am, aggressive behavior toward law enforcement at traffic stops and other unstable episodes. He is favored by this administration and commission because of his ability to cater to their needs, including numerous junkets to foreign locations using a $500,000port budget item. The 2014 Port budget also includes a $5million item for payment in a legal judgment against the County for a judges ruling that the Port of Miami has a way of doling certain business permits illegally protecting incumbents -- ``creating a handful of entrenched privileged companies". The judge said evidence showed other ``established, qualified, competent and trustworthy,'' companies were denied permits even as some incumbents who didn't use their permits received automatic renewals. Kuryla works the backchannels and selection process, where privileged insiders are awarded business while those who are not tied into the system of lobbyists, commissioner aides and certain County staff are denied. Kuryla should be fired, not promoted. Divide his salary among honest employees. Stop the travel junkets for friends and family, save millions.
Someone needs to begin looking at the Port. With these conditions it is going to blow- up in our faces and a lot of people will be going to jail.
Both Port's so to speak - the Port of Miami and the Airport! Many should be going to jail, including elected's! What tax payer funded cash cows they've been from the vendors, contractors, sub contractors, lobbyists, nepotistic employee hires for no show jobs, bloated salary's, etc. - all at our expenses one way or the other. You can only offset so much of the costs in hidden taxes and fees to users of the "ports"!
Re the Port: Juan Kuryla = Carmen Lunetta on crack
glad to see commissioners making that dictator Gimenez keep his word. the recall should be on Gimenez. he cannot administrate and has no creativity to be part of the solution rather than the problem. Cuba Democracy does not work here- he needs to get that through his head!
glad to see commissioners making that dictator Gimenez keep his word. the recall should be on Gimenez. he cannot administrate and has no creativity to be part of the solution rather than the problem. Cuba Democracy does not work here- he needs to get that through his head!
Xavier Suarez voted to give the union workers a 5% raise. Guess Xavier is running for another office? Doesn't Xavier know about Stockton, Calif and Detroit, Michigan filing for bankruptcy? Doesn't he know overpaid union works and overly generous pension plans were prime causes ? Gimenez needs to veto asap.
All you whiners should be thanking the county employees for the sacrificing their pay so you could enjoy your tax break on your property. Oh, you don't remember your puny tax break? Gimenez cut taxes for every property in Miami-Dade, reducing revenues by $200 Million, and then garnished our wages to make up the difference. Well, you probably don't remember your puny tax break, but my W-2 has had $3,560 less every year for for the past three and half years. Enough of the whining, tea partiers. You want to fix broken sewers with me? I am sick of your sh*t.
Stop comparing Miami to Detroit. Detroit went from 2M people to 700K. That is the reason for their troubles. Don't worry, the water, sun and weather will insure that does not happen here.
I doubt that "most people hate government unions". The truth is that most people wish they had a union to support them with equitable wages and working conditions. With union labor accounting for less than 12% of the U.S. work force, it goes beyond reason the think that unions have been the cause of our economic downturn. By blaming unions for all that is bad is a smokescreen for the Republicans and many uneducated people believe it. Please study up on why we have unions and how unions helped build up our middle class. How are all these non union, low paying jobs working out for the working class? Last I heard most folks can't afford to live on $8 per hour.
In Detroit 2 mil residents turned into 700,000 because 1) Auto companies made numerous stupid decisions and 2) remaining residents hated having to pay overpaid public sector workers. Residents left leaving far too many public sector employees making far too much. That meant a much higher tax burden on the few remaining residents. Miami-Dade has already seen an exodus of taxpayers. There is never any excuse for Miami-Dade County to need 26,000 employees. How about trying to do more with less? Unions merely exploit greedy dumb elected officials.
Last Anon: exodus of taxpayers? Who left? The urban core of Miami-Dade is a sea of construction cranes, unlike the hollowed out downtown of Detroit.
How about trying to do more with less? How about you quit requiring 24-hour water service, 24-hour fire protection, 24-hour lock-up of criminals, 24-hour police protection, 24-hour airport and seaport operations, 24-hour monitoring of street signals and signs, and 24-hour trauma service at Jackson?
The main problem with the excessive number of Miami-Dade County employees is not the line service providers it is with the 8,000 to 10,000 supervisors. In the Fire Department alone there is a 1:2 ratio of supervisors to employees. Specifically, there are hundreds of supervisors managing 2 employees each. That is crazy. Countywide, each supervisor manages 5 employees or 1:5. There are 1,000's too many middle level bureaucrats. Too many relatives and friends have been hired. Yes, the County needs to fire or retire 2,000+ full time employees immediately. Or become another Stockton or Detroit.
The court in the recent Detroit bankruptcy decision opened the door on employees and pensioners. A number of cities who cannot meet their pension obligations are now looking at that option to start over again. Detroit retirees have begun cutting back expenses in anticipation of the cuts to come. If you don't have the money, you can't pay.
The question is whose wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, cousin, or best friend will go? Since performance is not a factor, I guess they have to start the relationship pecking order by rank order of political power.
Every family that has both a husband and a wife on the County payroll should give up one job. The County needs to fire 1,000+ ASAP,
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