Labor disputes loom over GOP Convention

[zaj]

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/08/05/convention/index.html

Aug. 5, 2004 | New York -- The Republican National Convention is more than three weeks away but an unlikely group of demonstrators has already turned up to protest: off-duty police officers and firefighters agitating for a new labor contract.

One officer outside Madison Square Garden held a sign that read: “Low pay (plus) fewer cops (plus) terrorism (equals) formula for disaster.”

<snip>

“There's a lot of unhappy firefighters out there,” said Stephen Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.

At the Democratic National Convention in Boston, last-minute contract settlements averted protests by police and firefighter unions. Much of the rhetoric -- laced with references to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- suggests there's little hope for a similar deal.

Cassidy dismissed the city's offer of a 5 percent wage increase over three years to police and firefighters as “an insult to the heroes of Sept. 11.”

<snip>

With contract talks stalled, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association spent $75,000 on a flashy Times Square billboard in January to demand better pay. It claimed that the city's officers -- who earn $34,500 to $60,300 a year -- are ranked 145th in pay among the nation's police departments.

[burrowowl]

1. I hope that

police, firefighters, teachers, etc. STRIKE during the Repug Convention. I wonder how much of the NY National Guard is in Irak?

[xray s]

2. 5 percent wage increase over 3 years = rapidly rising wages, per Bush

Bush needs to get out and tell those firefighters and cops the facts. The economy is marvelous. Wages are rising rapidly. If they ain't with Bush, they must be with the terra'ists.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2165711

[Gman]

3. Going to NYC for their convention

will go down as the biggest fucking mistake the GOP ever made!

[Bucky]

4. Oh come now

You really can't think of any worse mistake they've made?