Article published Sunday, October 7, 2007
Sweetheart deals not in union pacts
Your Sept. 27 editorial titled "No more sweetheart deals" could not have been more incorrect in both its facts and its conclusions.
When labor negotiations between the City of Toledo and AFSCME Local 7 reached an impasse in 1996, a factfinder was selected to hear both sides and issue a report.
A factfinder is a neutral party who examines both arguments and determines a resolution to the impasse.
That report included the 8.5 percent pension pickup he ordered to be paid by the city on behalf of the union employees.
In a Blade article published on Aug. 21, 1996, bearing the headline "Mayor urges city council to scrap order on pensions," I challenged City Council to show "courage" and reject the report! Unfortunately, only one councilman - Gene Cook - joined me in opposition to this hefty expenditure of public dollars.
More recently, a factfinder's report provided Teamsters Local 20 a health-care package that costs taxpayers an extra $600,000 a year.
However, this time, the city was able to obtain approximately $800,000 in concessions from the Teamsters in elimination of hospitalization coverage for part-time employees and reductions of required overtime pay.
Therefore, we accepted the factfinder's report. Unfortunately, you must accept or reject a factfinder's report in its entirety. You cannot vote down or veto parts you don't like.
Your article, published on Sept. 23, failed to mention $800,000 in concessions by the Teamsters.
Your article further stated that the Teamsters have supported me in prior election "campaigns." In fact, the Teamsters supported my opponents in every mayoral run until 2005 when, for the first time, they endorsed me.
Since I had not been in office for four years, their endorsement wasn't a reward but a simple endorsement.
I have cut no deals with either the Teamsters or AFSCME. I respect the leaders of our union work force, work with them when appropriate, and challenge our workers when that is appropriate. I have not cut any "sweetheart deals" with anyone!
Editorial complaints are part of being in public office and I usually take them in stride. However, I would expect your reporter and editorials to do some hard-nosed, basic research to back up their collusion theories.
That you didn't do.
As the only daily newspaper in Toledo, your stories must be fact-based - and this one wasn't.
Carty Finkbeiner
Mayor
City of Toledo
