What could go wrong when you slash the pay of your police officers and fire fighters to the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour? That's several dollars less than your typical adult employee at a fast food chain.
Amid Scranton’s ever-deepening financial crisis, Mayor Chris Doherty said his administration is going forward with a plan to unilaterally slash the pay of 398 workers to the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour with today’s payroll, insisting it is all the city can afford.
That will likely earn administration officials an appointment with Judge Michael Barrasse, who granted the city’s police, fire and public works unions a special injunction temporarily barring the administration from imposing the pay cuts after a brief hearing Thursday.
The White Castle by my previous apartment started out at $12 per hour, and their employees aren't being asked to risk their lives, save other people's lives, or carry guns.
And it's Scranton. The city MSNBC's Chris Matthews is constantly waxing nostalgic about. Because it's a beacon of merit-based societal progression, hard work, and blue collar triumph. Why cant President Obama connect with the residents of this white, working-class bastion? A question Matthews routinely ponders on the air.
Hopefully this will turn more than a few heads.