Rendell sets deadline for contract agreement

Mayor Edward Rendell set a 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline for union acceptance of what he called the city's "last, best" contract offer during a press conference Friday morning. "If there is not agreement by 5 p.m. next Wednesday, the city will have no choice but to implement the terms of this contract," Rendell said. Health care coverage was increased and wage increases were added in the new proposal unlike the Mayor's original March 3 contract offer. The four-year contract does not include an initial raise, but calls for a five percent pay increase spanned over the last two years. The contract also offers union members the choice of three managed health care plans, with the city paying for inflationary increases in health care payments. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, District Council 33, the city's blue-collar union, rejected the contract offer Saturday, saying that they were not bound by Rendell's deadline. The executive board of District Council 33 will meet Monday, the Inquirer said, to prepare a counterproposal to Rendell's contract offer. However, the Mayor was firm in his rejection of the negotiation process Friday. "This is the very best that I can do," Rendell said. "If the unions can improve on this offer, if they can propose something that is better, not just from the perspective of their workers, but from the perspective of the taxpayers and better from the perspective of the citizens of this city, I would be willing to listen." Thomas Cronin, leader of District Council 47, the city's white-collar union, told the Inquirer that his team had not yet finished reviewing the offer, and would possibly have a statement ready today. Talks between the City and the unions broke down earlier this summer. The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board issued a special fact-finding order to continue negotiations, but Rendell challenged the legality of the order. While the order was being decided by the state Supreme Court, the unions were barred from striking and the City was barred from implementing the contract offer. The Supreme Court ruled last week that the board did not meet the legal deadline to appoint a fact-finder, freeing Rendell to set the new deadline. Both unions authorized their leaderships last month to call strikes if the leaders deem it neccesary.

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