Been away for a bit. I've been very busy with union president business.
We finally have a contract! By ironically saving our own retirement plan by agreeing to cuts in benefits, the City Council rewarded us with a 5% raise after some tough bargaining.
Of course, by saving that retirement plan, we saved the City's bond rating, as they are now unable to hide the millions of dollars of unfunded liability from their books because of a new GASB rule. That would have killed their bond rating, which would have cost the taxpayers an awful lot of money.
So, by paying us more money, they ironically saved the tax payer's money. How great is that???
My coworkers wanted to settle for three percent, but I held out for 5%. They thought it was stupid then. They think it was brilliant now.
Just wanted to share that with someone. I'm so isolated lately. I'll check in more in the future.