FIREFIGHTERS FINALLY GETTING THEIR DUE

It is official Louisville firefighters now will get paid what they should have been paid 9 years ago. A $45 million settlement agreement is being sent to the Metro Council for approval where it is expected to be passed quickly. Read here for more info:
Mayor submits plan to give firefighters first payment in overtime dispute courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal

The firefighters, as you may recall, have been involved in a 9 year struggle to get the overtime pay and other incentives they are entitled to resolved and put in their paychecks. The problem for over 9 years has been the idiocy of Mayor Abramson trying to screw them out of what they deserve.

Simply put if Abramson would have done his job and paid them justly we would have owed somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 million, NOT $45 million, and if paid in a timely manner it would have certainly garnered more favorable attention than what he created by fighting.

Abramson was the one who fought the firefighters over their overtime pay and when he lost the first court case decided to continue the fight anyway. This of course led us to be on the hook for $45 million instead of $6 million.

That payment includes $14.3 million to more than 800 current and former firefighters involved in two lawsuits over an overtime pay dispute that has gone on nine years. It also includes $1.5 million to cover attorney fees.

Under Abramson’s plan, the city would make additional payments of $14.3 million by March 31 and $14.9 million by July 15 to complete the settlement.

Abramson has long touted us as being broke and now all of a sudden he "finds" $14.3 million in the budget to make the first installment? Seems he always finds money to help himself doesn't he?

Anyone wonder why? Because he cannot afford to have this hanging over his head during the Gubernatorial election.

Also consider this. After this first installment is made the rest will be paid through the use of bonds.

According to Jane Driskell (remember her? one of Abramson's favorite go to people and double dipper) the December payment would come from cash already allocated in the metro budget.

About $7.1 million would come from a reserve account where money was accumulated in recent years to pay for the litigation.

The rest will come from the sale of an investment, Driskell said.

She said the second and third payments would be covered by bond sales. She said money to cover the employer costs would have to be bonded.

So now thanks to the arrogance of the idiot Mayor not only have we screwed the firefighters all these years we now are on the hook for $45 million in payouts, of which most will be bonded costing us even more money.

My congratulations go out to the hard working men and women of the Louisville Fire Department for this hard fought victory. If not for their willingness to negotiate this figure could have been millions higher. Kudos to IAFF President Craig Willman for standing firm and also to Councilman Kelly Downard who has tried to get this resolved for years.

My condolences to the hard working people in our Metro for having to deal with the idiocy of this Mayor and his purse strings. We have suffered enough financially from the poor leadership and cronyism he espouses.

Remember these idiotic decisions and the cost associated with his leadership when it is time to vote for Governor of the Commonwealth. In my opinion it is time to say goodbye to Abramson from politics.

Your thoughts?