Cda’s City Workers Defend Salaries We Are Not Paid Too Much, They Say; Private Workers Are Paid Too Little

Local businesses should pay their employees more than the minimum instead of pushing for lower wages and benefits for city workers, a city union official said.

It also may be time for city workers to reconsider doing business with members of Concerned Businesses of North Idaho, which lobbies for about 60 area merchants, mines and real estate and tourism firms.

Those salvos flew Monday as city workers recoiled from a report that pegs their compensation - especially sick leave and vacation pay - as far too generous. A city employee with a decade of experience can accumulate 45 days off a year, the Concerned Businesses study says.

The report also suggests several other ways the city can save money, most of them involving turning city services over to private contractors.

Look a little more thoughtfully, city workers say.

“Through the years, the city hasn’t been able to give us wage increases, so we have taken benefits - vacation and sick leave - in place of money in our pocket,” said Paula Eberle, president of the Lake City Employees Association.

Eberle represents 92 clerical and blue-collar workers on the city payroll.

“We do a damned good job and we’re proud of our jobs,” Eberle said. City employees turn out 24 hours a day, year-round, in all kinds of weather to fix sewers, respond to police calls, put out fires, repair water lines and keep the city running.

The wage and benefit package is in line with those of most of the major companies in the area, Eberle said. “If the rest of them have a problem, maybe they need to rethink where they are with their staff and give them a living wage, … not a minimum wage,” she said.

City workers cite a 1989 salary survey, done by an outside consultant, that shows they were underpaid. That started a round of increases that brought wages up to par, they say.

In addition, a 1995 U.S. Department of Labor study shows the average pay of all Idaho workers is 20 percent less than the national average of $26,362, Eberle said.

The average city worker earns $33,982 a year. There are about 120 workers earning more and 120 workers earning less, City Finance Director John Austin said.

Eberle, however, said there are no supervisors or administrators among the employees she represents. She estimates the average city worker wage at closer to $25,000 a year - not including benefits. City officials estimate it at closer to $28,000.

Dollars aside, at least a few union members are talking about a boycott of merchants who belong to Concerned Businesses. Eberle is not there. Yet.

“It has always been my desire to support our local merchants and I have expressed this desire to the employees in my association,” she said.

“But I wonder now why we should do business with them when they don’t support us?”

Eberle hopes residents will speak up about the wage issue. “Do they thing we are courteous, do a good job and provide them with the services that they expect, or is big business the only one who has a say in the city of Coeur d’Alene?”

Concerned Businesses isn’t intimidated. “Their benefits definitely exceed the benefits in the private sector,” said Steve Judy, the business group’s executive director. “I don’t believe that 1989 survey would hold water today.”

He disagrees with the idea that the businesses should raise their pay rather than asking the city to trim its personnel costs. “Businesses today are constantly going through re-engineering to lower costs - government needs to do the same.”

In addition, “I think the idea that a tax-paid employee gets more than a tax-paying employees is of concern,” he said.

As for a boycott? “The consumer always has a choice,” Judy said. “If people choose not to do business with us because we’re asking government to do business more efficiently, they can do business elsewhere.”

, DataTimes