Furlough

Time comes again for a revenue shortfall for the city of Parma. Estimates of a three million dollar shortage will possibly dictate furloughs for the hourly employees again. Certainly for some, it may pose economic hardship, for others it may mean cutting back on the items that they have become accustomed to having such as cell phones, cable television, getting into the car every time they go somewhere instead of walking to your destination (if you belong to a gym this can take the place of the membership) and a host of other items. It’s time to tighten your belts when the income is reduced. That, for most part, is the only alternative. The adage of living within one’s means becomes a bit of a harsh pill to swallow. Now there are those who have extended their credit while they assume the job will always be there. What do you do to get income to pay for the items you really couldn’t afford? Panic is often a frequently resorted to ally. Worry is also relied on. You will find that panic solves nothing. Worry is in the same category. If you worry about something and all goes wrong, worry didn’t change anything, and if you worry and things work out, you did all that worrying for nothing. It will be more difficult, most certainly, to be furloughed, but you will make it through this difficult time. As long as everyone shares the burden of a reduced income, somehow the sharing seems not to be as bad. 

This brings to mind of everyone sharing in the furloughing. If City Hall is closed, no one can work. If no one can work, how does the administration get any work done? If the hourly employees aren’t doing any work, is anything getting accomplished? If one concludes that work is not being done, there would be no sense in most administrators just sitting at their desk, however they would be under the same umbrella as the hourly employees. They would be sacrificing a portion of their income to help balance the budget surely. The item that would certainly outrage the public is if raises would be distributed during this time. And no one would be so arrogant as to take advantage of such a situation as to penalize just certain individuals and not share the burdens. An excuse that could be used is that in the contract it stipulates that raises have to be given, change the contracts. They certainly are not any better than the hourly employees in any regard, at least in a logical mind. There may be one person who comes to mind who certainly could still work through a furlough and that would be the Mayor. With the meetings he attends and the assorted duties that befall such a position he would surely not be the one furloughed. The hours he invests have no room to be reduced. He certainly wouldn’t have time for any outside income as no other administrator should. If there is a second employment for any salaried person, the question would be if they are fulfilling their duties as a city employee in the first place.

Yet it had been said that while the hourly employees are asked to live on a reduced income, the salaried employees are not asked to make the same sacrifices. This is hard to fathom as one would conclude that the salaried employee to be more important. This brings to mind one question; does the salaried employee work while the hourly employee is furloughed, or do the salaried employees get an extra paid vacation? Going back to the previously mentioned, how does work get done if the hourly employee is not there to do the work? 

This is a perplexing situation. If the work is getting done without the hourly employee, why would there be a need for them in the first place? There is confusion, in my mind, as to how this entire system functions. One last thought; why are salaried workers mostly nine to fivers? Isn’t the object of a salaried worker to complete a task before calling it a day? 

Perhaps the only solution is to get rid of everyone and start all over again.

Leo Lampeter

Retired. Looking to create controversy.

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Volume 7, Issue 2, Posted 2:04 PM, 02.02.2015