BREAKING: Providence Plans to Lay Off 60 to 80 Police
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The City of Providence is planning to send layoff notices to 60 to 80 police officers by the end of this week, a union spokesman confirmed late today.
The layoffs would cut the size of the city police force by more than 10 percent and save an estimated $6 million—bringing the city one important step closer to its objective of eliminating a $110 million structural budget deficit next year.
Joe Rodio, an attorney for the union, said police are still weighing how they will respond to what he described as a “draconian” move.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTNews of the potential layoffs comes as negotiations over a new contract have apparently stalled. The police are the only major city union that currently does not have a contract—and they have been without one since 2007. Current negotiations are reportedly stalled over the issue of whether the police should get retroactive raises for the years in which they did not have a contract.
The city is running out of time. Both sides have until July 11 to reach an agreement. If they don’t the contract then heads to arbitration.
A spokesman for Mayor Angel Taveras did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In his budget address earlier this month Taveras accused the police and fire unions of not doing enough to help the city deal with the deficit.
Taft Manzotti, president of the city police union, could not be reached for a comment in time for publication. But earlier this month he spoke out over how Taveras has approached the issue. “I think he blamed us and I don’t like to be threatened,” Manzotti said earlier this month after the Mayor’s budget address. “We’ve negotiated fairly with the city of Providence and we will continue to negotiate fairly.”
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