METHUEN — After taking 10 percent pay cuts this year, municipal employees are facing potential layoffs on July 1.
Teachers, meanwhile, are scheduled to receive pay increases for the third consecutive year, which is creating a rift among public employee unions, city councilors said last night.
"It's dividing the school side from the city side," Council Chairman John Cronin Jr. told Mayor William Manzi during a budget workshop. "You'll never see one union hit another union ... publicly, but I know what they're saying. There's a lot of animosity there."
"I don't see any of that," teachers union President Donna Gogas said after last night's School Committee meeting, when she was told what Cronin said.
Gogas said she works with members of other unions on the city's health insurance coalition.
"We have a very cordial dialogue," she said.
The School Committee approved a three-year contract with the teachers union in October 2008, giving teachers 3 percent raises each year. For many teachers, the raises are combined with step increases that boost their pay even more.
Gogas herself is slated to receive a 4.3 percent pay hike, from $78,861 to $82,227 for the next school year.
Superintendent Jeanne Whitten has called on teachers to make pay concession, but teachers union leaders haven't budged.
Budget season is heating up, and the city faces a deficit of more than $6 million. Manzi told city councilors he may recommend "some measure" of a tax increase.
If teachers make concessions, that will only help the school department, not the municipal government, Manzi said.
Gogas spoke during the School Committee meeting and said politicians have been releasing "deceptive information" about teachers' pay. She said Methuen teachers, on average, earn less than teachers in Lowell, Lawrence and North Andover.
She likened teachers' salaries to an "investment" and said if the city wants to attract quality educators, "they must be paid competitive wages and benefits."
The city could is looking at potentially laying off 89 employees, including 20 police officers and 30 firefighters, Cronin said.
"Why is it that the city side has to make all the sacrifices?" Councilor Philip Lahey Jr. asked during the City Council meeting.
Diane Dandreta, a retired teacher, spoke at the School Committee meeting and said the teachers contract was negotiated in "good faith" and now the teachers are being "picked on."
