Essential services such as trash collection and police and fire protection would continue on days that the rest of city government is closed. Those essential workers would have to stagger days off.
The five-day furlough would apply to all 10,845 city workers who make $50,000 or less. The 5,921 employees who make $50,000 to $100,000 would be furloughed eight days, and the 147 who earn more than $100,000 (including Mayor Sheila Dixon) would take 10 furlough days. Police and fire command staff, who are not represented by unions, are included.
The administration also wants City Council members to take unpaid days, though it cannot force them to do so. City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake has scheduled a closed session Monday to discuss furloughs. She declined through a spokesman to comment for this article.
At least one of the city's unions has reluctantly agreed to the plan.
"We're just between a rock and a hard place," said Brenda J. Clayburn, head of the City Union of Baltimore, which represents 2,200 clerical workers. "If we say 'no,' people get laid off."
Police and fire unions, however, have resisted the furlough proposal, which could leave an $8 million gap in the city's cost-savings strategy. The current administration plan assumes those savings will somehow come from fire and police, but Gallagher plans to return to the Board of Estimates in October to detail how the savings will be realized. City Solicitor George Nilson has said he believes the public safety unions can be forced to take furloughs, though Dixon officials favor securing voluntary concessions.
Meanwhile the administration has gone on offense, lobbying City Council members who usually are sympathetic to police and fire unions.
"I will be very disappointed if the police and fire [departments] do not participate," said Councilman Bernard "Jack" Young, who chairs the council's budget and public safety committees. "I will be very disappointed."
"I'm not going to sugarcoat this," said Council Vice President Edward L. Reisinger. "We are in a crisis now. I think the fire and the police departments, they have to share the pain."
But Robert F. Cherry, head of the police union, said his members have contractual protection from furloughs and should not be vilified for wanting the city to honor its promises. Further, he said, police union members are offering other concessions to close their share of the budget gap. Cherry said he suggested that officers take compensatory time in lieu of payment for days they spend in court or instead of the extra pay they usually receive for working holidays.
