This story gets more confusing by the minute, first the hussle-bussle on Cory’s site;

They received a 1% COLA last year, this cannot wait. – Kooper Caraway, president of the South Dakota Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

Well Mr. Caraway, whose fault is that? It’s certainly not the taxpayers fault. You are the chief negotiator. Unless you have been living under a rock, economists have been talking about how the economic recovery will go, they have predicted inflation, employment issues etc. This is not some surprise. So why didn’t you negotiate this to begin with?

I will also say that I have never heard of a non-management union employee of the city living paycheck to paycheck. Maybe it is happening, but you truly need to supply proof. You have not.

But it didn’t stop them from bullying a mayoral candidate;

In a statement to the Argus Leader Wednesday afternoon, Islam said “since [the ordinance] was advanced to a second reading last night, it should be approved on March 1.”

Do they deserve this? I am not sure. But if they do it isn’t because inflation suddenly reared its head it’s because the original negotiations were horrible. Who accepts a 1% raise even in normal economic times?

But I will argue it still goes back to whose money this is. The taxpayers. Why are we so quick to hand out bonuses when this money could be spent on much needed infrastructure projects for the very people who paid in the money?

I am astounded how this has become so complicated and convoluted;

• The union messed up in the original bargaining agreement

• They want to save face

• The timing is horrific, so they make excuses

You can spin this how ever you want to, you can bully candidates, but at the end of the day a spade is a spade. This is a bribe right before an election and any other assessment is hogwash and circumvent.

Taneeza took the opportunity to talk about her work with protecting immigrants rights and the organization SD Voices for Peace.

I would like to thank Kooper Caraway for inviting me to the Labor Day breakfast this morning hosted by the Sioux Falls AFL-CIO. It was inspiring to see so many immigrants at the event, there was also three state legislators (Healy, Duba & Saba) and County Commissioner Jeff Barth in attendance. Below are some messages from Union.

While people have railed on me in the past about things I say about local public servants, not sure if I can beat a zinger like this;

“(The mayor) has failed every single character test when it comes to the rank and file,” Holbeck said. “Right now, his word is worth about five cents.”

Now that I have stopped laughing, let’s continue.

Another mayor and another snub of the PD. While I have often been critical of policies and leadership at the SFPD, I do think the officers deserve fair pay and reasonable wage increases and benefits. But it seems how to negotiate those contracts goes over the anti-union, right-wing, Republican Mayor’s head;

Holbeck said that response doesn’t sit well with union members, who prefer wages based on responsibility than equity and feel like TenHaken isn’t following through with his commitment to being supportive of law enforcement.

Wouldn’t you pay on what people do instead of thinking the responsibility of all the officers are the same?

This is what happens when you have a partisan-hack who comes from a non-union corporate structure that rewards ‘SALES’ over actual ‘WORK’. This is why I have despised sales people for a very long time. Not all ‘worker bees’ are the same, and they shouldn’t be treated that way.

During the campaign, TenHaken said he’d have an open-door policy for police officers, who have since been told to direct all communications to the mayor through the chief of police; and the mayor didn’t attend any of the negotiation hearings or a recent briefing between the City Council and the union, Holbeck said.

If Paul would have bothered to show up to a couple of meetings, he might have learned something. I guess he was too busy filming carpool karaoke with pastor Keith in his Lexus. Which many people have asked me if the officer was on the clock while filming this or was he just given a free ‘bottle of pop’?

Why is it so hard for city government leaders to complete some of the easiest tasks? If they can’t negotiate a simple union contract, I hate to see what is in store for transit riders. Grab your ankles, the bus is now in motion.