City Worker Unions Fight Layoffs

ATLANTA -- Mayor Shirley Franklin's budget calls for a property tax hike of more than $40 million. She's already fired 441 city employees in an effort to erase a $140 million budget shortfall.

All week, ousted city workers have told the council they don't think the firings were fair. Now, union leaders claim Mayor Franklin's administration didn't follow civil service code.

According to labor leaders, the city had to take intermediate steps first: like temporary furloughs or short work weeks, so no one permanently lost a job.

"Union heads needed to get together with the mayor, DHR, whatever we could have done to try to come up with some ideas well in advance," said Gina Pagnotta of the Professional Association of City Employees.

But Atlanta City Council Finance Chairman Howard Shook said the mayor is only required to consider short-term alternatives. He thinks pressures from higher pension costs are here to stay, making short-term fixes like furloughs pointless. "So we're going to have to do, not more with less, but probably less with less, moving into the future," he said.

So the city will privatize some services.

Union leaders said the city should require contractors to give fired city workers first shot at those jobs. "Because you're not doing the city any good when people are laid off, and then jobs that really still exist are filled by other people," said Nancy Lenk of AFSCME.

"I'm willing to consider it. I think it's just plain good management. If you're not listening to your workers to begin with, there's a problem. It would be a shame to just codify a common-sense dictate like that," Shook said.

One union leader said he's at least looking into possible legal action.

Mayor Franklin said the city must cut back because it has more employees per resident than most other cities of similar size.