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New Orleans Pay Raises...some get it, some don't
City raises pay for cops and rookie firefighters
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Cash-strapped New Orleans gave police
officers and rookie firefighters a pay raise, but has rejected the
idea of more money for veteran firefighters.
The New Orleans Civil Service Commission on Wednesday quickly
approved a proposal by Mayor Ray Nagin to raise salaries for all
police by 10 percent and boost the paltry annual starting pay for
rookie firefighters by several thousand dollars.
The commission, the first stop for City Hall pay matters, gave
its unanimous support to the Nagin proposal on police raises
designed to slow an escalating post-Katrina exodus of police. The
salary package now goes to the City Council.
The commissioners balked at Nagin's plan to increase the
starting salary for fire recruits by $5,300, however, since that
would have pushed the starting hourly wage for a fire department
trainee higher than what a first-year firefighter earns.
Instead, the plan sent on to the council recommends boosting a
recruit's salary by $3,977, which would increase a rookie's annual
pay from $15,919, or $5.10 an hour, to $19,896, or $8.31 an hour.
Even with the bump in pay, firefighter union officials said that
the starting salary for firefighters is still less than what fast
food restaurant workers earn in New Orleans.
Nagin has steadfastly defended his proposal, saying the police
department has been hit harder by post-Katrina attrition than the
fire department and emergency medical workers, whom he also
excluded from the pay-raise plan.
The mayor also says that firefighters, unlike other municipal
workers, benefit from a state-mandated, 2 percent annual pay
increase that kicks in after three years on the job.
---
Information from: The Times-Picayune,
http://www.timespicayune.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Cash-strapped New Orleans gave police
officers and rookie firefighters a pay raise, but has rejected the
idea of more money for veteran firefighters.
The New Orleans Civil Service Commission on Wednesday quickly
approved a proposal by Mayor Ray Nagin to raise salaries for all
police by 10 percent and boost the paltry annual starting pay for
rookie firefighters by several thousand dollars.
The commission, the first stop for City Hall pay matters, gave
its unanimous support to the Nagin proposal on police raises
designed to slow an escalating post-Katrina exodus of police. The
salary package now goes to the City Council.
The commissioners balked at Nagin's plan to increase the
starting salary for fire recruits by $5,300, however, since that
would have pushed the starting hourly wage for a fire department
trainee higher than what a first-year firefighter earns.
Instead, the plan sent on to the council recommends boosting a
recruit's salary by $3,977, which would increase a rookie's annual
pay from $15,919, or $5.10 an hour, to $19,896, or $8.31 an hour.
Even with the bump in pay, firefighter union officials said that
the starting salary for firefighters is still less than what fast
food restaurant workers earn in New Orleans.
Nagin has steadfastly defended his proposal, saying the police
department has been hit harder by post-Katrina attrition than the
fire department and emergency medical workers, whom he also
excluded from the pay-raise plan.
The mayor also says that firefighters, unlike other municipal
workers, benefit from a state-mandated, 2 percent annual pay
increase that kicks in after three years on the job.
---
Information from: The Times-Picayune,
http://www.timespicayune.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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