City layoffs reaction

We've been sorting through which departments are included in the citywide layoff and which ones are exempt. The one big question that remains are concerns the city still doesn't know about garbage workers. Here's the short statement released from the mayor's office on Tuesday:
"Additional layoff notices were sent out today to city of Toledo employees announcing a citywide layoff affecting all non-safety service employees. This layoff will begin on Friday, February 13. All layoff and recall procedures relating to the city's union contracts will be scrupulously followed."

The layoffs are across the board except for police, fire, and employees at the water treatment and water reclamation plants. The city still doesn't know whether refuse workers will be included in the layoff.

Councilman George Sarantou says he'll fight for refuse workers to be exempt. Otherwise, he says the layoffs would help. If the layoffs last a week, it would save the city $2.5 million.

Councilman Michael Ashford says the additional layoffs sound like retaliation against the unions for challenging the mayor's furloughs. Last week an arbitrator ruled in favor of the unions, saying the furloughs violate the union contract. Ashford says there has to be another way to find the money besides layoffs.

"This is a shockwave through this community, mainly because taxpayers have already paid for their city services. Now the message out there is that you may not get it after February 13th."

The city says the layoffs are scheduled to begin February 13, but the return date is not yet determined. One thing to note, the city council's hands are pretty much tied. It can't do much about the layoffs since they're an administrative function of the mayor.

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