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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981 01-28 Mixed emotions over wage hike THE REVIEW Mixed emotions over wage hike g /90 / By MARY LEE HAGERT proposed giving these workers a$138 a month raise."The last time I offered that A majority of Maplewood city em- was seven months ago,and they weren't ployees are receiving a 9.5 percent pay very interested in it,"Evans said. increase for 1981. Greavu said he objected to the per- After a long debate Jan. 22, the centage raise because persons at the top Maplewood City Council voted 4 to 1 to of the city's pay scale will receive a larger grant the pay raise. dollar raise per month than those at the The salary hike is going to the 46 lower end of the pay scale.Every year the members of the clerical-technical and the gap between the persons at the top and maintenance unions.Also getting the 9.5 those at the bottom gets bigger,he said. percent increase will be six non-union staff department heads and the city EVANS ANSWERED, that when manager's secretary. everyone gets the same percentage in- This pay raise includes the 4.5 percent crease,everyone on the pay scale moves raise that was granted to the employees up equally. at the beginning of the year. Evans gave a list of the non-union pay increases for other municipalities during THE PAY boost will up a clerk-typist l's 1981. Out of 29 cities, six gave a nine pay from$831 a month to$910. percent pay increase,and eight gave a 9.5 A maintenance person I will have his percent hike. hourly pay increasing from$7.60 an hour The remaining 12 cities gave larger to$8.30 an hour.A person in this category, raises, with the highest ones being which is the lowest level in the main- Mounds View at 13.24 percent and Cottage tenance union,is involved in street and Grove at 12-15 percent. park upkeep and snow removal. Greavu said he had asked to see em- There are two groups of city employees ployee work evaluations four years ago. that have not yet settled on their 1981 He said he had not yet seen these sheets. contracts. These include the eight Evans said that he has evaluations on members of the Metro Supervisory file in his office,which may be read by Association Union and the police officers, city officials at any time. most of whom belong to the Teamsters He admitted in a later interview that he Union. had not been doing written evaluations on In addition to the 9.5 percent raise,the the department heads.Instead,he said he members of the clerical-technical and met with them on a regular basis to maintenance unions will receive an in- discuss problems and procedures.He said crease of$10 in monthly payments for he may begin filing some kind of dental and medical insurance. evaluations on the department heads in the future. There are six non-union department heads on the city staff, who will be EVANS REQUESTED the city council receiving an average pay hike of$2,972 a give Dan Faust, Maplewood Finance year. Barry Evans, Maplewood City Director, a $500 per year raise in Manager,pointed out that the department recognition of the city attaining a Cer- heads,after taxes are taken out,will take tificate of Conformance issued by the home an average of 47.3 percent of their raises or$1,418 a year. Municipal Finance Officers'Association. This proposal was turned down by the council.Greavu said,"1 don't know why MAYOR JOHN GREAVU voted against we should give a man a special raise for the 9.5 percent pay raise, saying he doing his job.We didn't give the sergeant favored giving all the city employees a who saved a man's life in Phalen Lake $175 a month raise,regardless of their last month a special raise for doing his present salary or rank. job. Why should we treat the.finance Norman Anderson told Greavu that he director any differently?" did not consider the mayor's proposal a Councilman Gary Bastian told his fair alternative.Anderson explained that fellow council members, "We've heard under the mayor's suggestion,the lowest some discussion tonight about our salary paid staff member would get a 30 percent levels and pay raise pi edures.Maybe it a month raise, while the department is time for the council to sit down and heads would get a five percent increase. start asking about the way the city is "Any union contract I have ever seen being run, about salary levels and the gives raises on a percentage basis," number of employees,instead of wily nily Anderson said. criticizing the staff.That is not useful. Evans,who represented the city in the Instead we should take some constructive negotiations with the clerical-technical steps in the future to make changes in the and the maintenance unions,said he had system."