Lynners say day without pay OK for all city workers

LYNN – Every city worker should take a day without pay if it means saving colleagues’ jobs, said a sampling of local residents interviewed Thursday morning.Residents like Lisa Brantley said if she were asked to take a day-without-pay like the one approved Wednesday by Lynn public school teachers in her own job, she would do it.Brantley said her son works in the private sector and accepted a layoff with employees under his supervision to underscore his confidence they will be rehired once the economy improves.But Barrett Hathaway said sacrifice on the part of the teachers does not constitute a benchmark other city workers must match. He said other city workers should be free to weigh different approaches to helping the city survive tough financial times.The day without pay will cover about half of the $1 million being cut from the School Department budget to help the city save $2.7 million. That cut is being made to offset reductions in state aid to the city announced by Gov. Deval Patrick in January.The vote keeps teachers in classrooms through the end of the school year. The city faces another, most likely larger, state aid cut in the spending year slated to start July 1. Patrick has said he will keep crucial spending on state aid to schools at current levels, but other areas of government on the state and municipal levels could see reductions.The School Committee is scheduled to vote on the unpaid day Feb. 18. School department clerks voted Tuesday to accept the unpaid day and administrators throughout the department may follow suit. Department heads, guidance counselors and curriculum workers are also slated to take a vote similar to the teachers and the Administrators Union president told The Item Wednesday his membership is leaning toward voting in favor.Clancy last week said he would prefer all municipal unions adopt a single strategy aimed at saving the city money and said he has concerns about one union adopting a day without pay while another chooses not to act or embraces another cost savings.Acting Fire Chief James Carritte said he is willing to take a day off without pay to save jobs in his department. City cuts triggered by state aid reductions forced him to reduce his budget for the last half of this current spending year by $433,000. The department is working on limiting overtime spending under a plan that includes putting a ladder truck out of service at the Broadway station with the aerial tower truck relocating from Broadway to Western Avenue and the Western Avenue ladder moving for the time being to Broadway.Carritte said a third ladder may be placed back in service “on days when we have sufficient manpower.””I anticipate those days will be rare.”