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Owed Back Pay, Miami Cops And Firefighters Attack Mayor’s Bond Campaign

C.M. Guerrero
/
El Nuevo Herald
Because of the 2008 recession, the city of Miami withheld some wages and benefits from union employees, including members of the Fraternal Order of Police. Now, unions are trying to persuade voters Miami needs to pay them back before pursuing a new bond.

A controversial solution employed by Miami’s mayor to solve a financial crisis that greeted him as he took office eight years ago may turn around to bite him on the way out the door.

During his first year as mayor, Tomás Regalado filled a roughly $100 million hole in the city’s budget by pushing city commissioners to unilaterally slash pay and benefits for thousands of employees. Using a state statute known as “financial urgency,” the city opened collective bargaining agreements to make the cuts despite union opposition, spawning a wave of retirements and lawsuits seeking to overturn the cuts.

Lawsuits that the employees are suddenly winning.

Read more from our news partner, the Miami Herald.

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