Mayor ignores court order, cuts workers’ pay to min wage
A pay cut is one thing, but a host of city employees in Scranton, PA, who were earning an average of $56,000 per year just saw their pay slashed to federal minimum wage levels.
And the mayor of Scranton, Chris Doherty, made this move in spite of a court order forbidding him from doing it.
According to news sources, Doherty defied the court order and cut the pay of around 400 city workers (firefighters, police and public-works employees) down to $7.25 per hour because it was all the ailing city could afford. He did, however, promise to restore full pay once the city’s finances were in order.
After the move, unions representing the city workers asked a County judge — who signed the order that the city pay full wages to its employees — to hold the mayor in contempt for his asked.
As of this week, a number of the city workers were concerned about meeting their mortgage payments and, according to John Judge, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 60, “There are kids working at ice cream stands earning more than their fathers, which is ridiculous.”
Readers, weigh in: What do you think of Scranton’s recent cash-cutting efforts?
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