After a long drawn out battle to get a balanced budget in place, Mayor Michael Nutter has another looming battle to win – negotiating labor contracts.
Contracts for nearly 20,000 city workers represented by unions expired on June 30 with no new deal being reach, in part, because of the budget stalemate in Harrisburg for the last 10 months.
Nutter has asked the legislature to cap retirement benefits for existing city workers at current levels and develop a separate pension plan for new hires that would cut benefit costs by more than 20 percent.
“We have to reduce the cost of our pension plan. We have to reduce the cost of what have been double-digit increases in health care costs. We’ll get those done at the negotiating table,” Nutter told kyw1060.
A representative for the District Council 33, the city’s largest union, said members will not waiver on those issues.
