Mayor White takes HFD negotiations public
Yesterday, KUHF-88.7's Capella Tucker and KHOU-11's Doug Miller separately reported Mayor White's comments that negotiators for the city of Houston and the city's firefighters were bogged down in a disagreement about overtime compensation.
Today, the Chronicle reported further on Mayor White's comments yesterday, which drew criticism from firefighters:
The overtime issue came up when a council member asked the mayor about the status of the contract negotiations.Saying he wanted the city government to be transparent, White told the council and the audience about what he described as a miscalculation.
Reporters who gathered for his regular briefing after the meeting asked questions about the issue, prompting more comments.
It seems clear that Mayor White intentionally revealed details of ongoing negotiations in order to try to push things along in a manner favorable to the city. The Chronicle's reporting suggests as much:
"We've had a lot of great progress," he said. "But there comes a point — with or without a contract — where we have to have a number in the budget."
The firefighters don't know how to play at this level:
"It does nobody any good to have a 'he said, she said' in the media," [firefighters' representative Rick] Mumey said.
Not true. It did the mayor some good. By calling out the firefighters as asking for more than is required under state law with regard to overtime, Mayor White has painted the firefighters as greedy to the public, and has gained a negotiating advantage. It's hard to believe it happened inadvertently.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/12/05 10:44 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (6)
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