James
2.6K posts
“The firefighters can have first-priority garnishment rights on all new buckets of revenue” is an incredible proviso that Vaunted Fiscal Conservative John Whitmire I’m sure added to the contract because that dastardly Turner was unprepared for a lawsuit that demanded $1 Bajillion
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@cjblain10 @CGHollins The trigger coming from new revenue obtained through joint efforts by the city and the fire union seems pretty clearly defined. Why did Controller Hollins explain the high OT increasing the deficit and then just gloss over that extra 13M in extra revenue!?!?
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“Now taxpayers are going to be responsible for significant back pay [$10-12M] to firefighters,” @CGHollins
charles@cjblain10
Houston recently lost arbitration with the firefighters. No one told council members…or the public @GrooganFox26
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@NoahMF @BillKingHouston @evan7257 It was hilarious watching the city in 2 lawsuits going on at the same time argue Prob B was unconstitutional due to Collective bargaining while at the same time arguing CB was unconstitutional. The city wasted millions on Lawyers knowing the would lose 1 or both of those cases
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@BillKingHouston @evan7257 I’ve read the suits. Have you? Do you now support Prop B now? Believe the 2017 pension reform was unconstitutional? Your immediate flipflopping to villainize Turner and lionize Whitmer is what gives me such pause.
The scales tipped to the HPFFA at the end **b/c of this law.*
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One of the reasons I do not regret calling Bill King a racist is that he claimed Turner was the most fiscally egregious politician in Houston history but he is still John Whitmire's Strongest Soldier depsite this.
Abby Church⭐️@abbschurch
New: Houston City Council will have to close a deficit of around $174M this summer as it begins budget discussions. A key culprit to the increase is fire and police's overtime spending. houstonchronicle.com/politics/houst… via @HoustonChron
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@abbschurch @FirefightersHOU @HoustonChron “Houston officials must pay the contract they agreed to” escalator only was executed if the city brought in excess revenue to cover the whole cost so why is this an issue?
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New: Houston officials must pay anywhere from $10M to $12M to @FirefightersHOU after an arbitrator ruled in the union's favor in a contract dispute. houstonchronicle.com/politics/houst… via @HoustonChron
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Honestly shocking that the fire department has a contract that requires the city divert extra revenue into their paychecks.
Abby Church⭐️@abbschurch
New: Houston officials must pay anywhere from $10M to $12M to @FirefightersHOU after an arbitrator ruled in the union's favor in a contract dispute. houstonchronicle.com/politics/houst… via @HoustonChron
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@JRDNLTHMS Back in 2017 the Houston Fire union hired an economist to provide data to compare HFD to what they had determined to be a private comparable. The City’s position was a private sector comparable didn’t exist. The depositions exist somewhere
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I've never understood what a fire fighter's private sector equivalent was...
Can anyone who does explain it to me?
Bill King@BillKingHouston
If you actually spent some time researching these issues, you would know that the firefighters filed a lawsuit under a state statute which awards compensation to them commiserate with compensation in the private sector. Their claim was for over $1billion. The case was set to go to trial in March 2024. Whitmire settled the case for a little more than half the potential damages. What would you have done in those circumstances. Have you read the lawsuit? Have you read the state statute? Did you review the damage model the fire fighters filed with the court?
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@NoahMF @BillKingHouston @evan7257 Unless they could reach an agreement. Without a contract judge would hear both sides argue compensation for each year of impasse for all 8 years and the city would have to pay all that back pay and pension contributions with interest. Odds are that number would be much > 650M
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@NoahMF @BillKingHouston @evan7257 It’s not claiming damages. Firefighters were operating outside a contract from 2017 till the settlement. They cannot strike so to protect them state law says in the event of impasse firefighters can ask a judge to set the salaries based on private sector equivalents. Instead of
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@NoahMF @BillKingHouston @evan7257 Of going to that trial the Mayor sued collective bargaining arguing that specific clause was unconstitutional. He appealed all the way to the Texas Supreme Court effectively stalling for 8 YEARS. The Supreme Court ordered them to have the judicial enforcement process proceed..
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@SkipLeCates @JRDNLTHMS @GrooganFox26 The ruling was at least 3-4 weeks ago. The video is from this morning.
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Houston recently lost arbitration with the firefighters. No one told council members…or the public
@GrooganFox26
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@evan7257 @HoustonChron Everytime the budget is mentioned y’all got to show firefighters. Why are will still blaming them for the cities budget
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"Mayor John Whitmire has yet to publicly present a plan for how he will address the city’s budget deficit."
houstonchronicle.com/politics/houst… via @houstonchron
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@JRDNLTHMS @cjblain10 @GrooganFox26 Yeah I couldn’t spare 4 min to watch the video😑. I also saw the finance director they would brief everyone. What’s the issue? The city apparently fought the firefighters. It’s not like they trying to sneak this by council. I’m sure the controller brings it up tomorrow
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@SkipLeCates @cjblain10 @GrooganFox26 My guy, a sitting council member prefaced his budget and finance committee hearing comments with "I'm hearing rumors..."
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@JRDNLTHMS @cjblain10 @GrooganFox26 So? After all that back -!: forth when they were trying to vote on the contract last year and in multiple budget meetings when they brought up the firefighters were only getting 3% not one council member was curious if it was possible the escalator could kick in?
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@JRDNLTHMS @cjblain10 @GrooganFox26 Get away with what? City council knew the escalators were in the contract! Also if I remember correctly would only kick in if the city brought in new revenue that would cover the entire cost. My question is why did it take arbitration to force the city to honor the contract?
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@cjblain10 @GrooganFox26 You've been one of the few fiscal conservatives not circling the wagons around Whitmire and blessing his every fiscal misstep.
I appreciate the consistency because yall would never let Turner get away with something like this.
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@WembyCentral @BrickCenter_ @210isapat Spurs started winning when they stopped letting Wemby guard Sengun. 😂
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@BrickCenter_ @210isapat If you sniff your phone hard enough you can actually smell the shit running down Sengun’s leg
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Wemby outscored the Rockets BY HIMSELF in the 4th quarter and got MVP chants in Houston's arena 😭
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@SethCarter22 @FSUClark5 @UCF_Jaguar I was making an example with Kirk…..😂. Saying Stroud is garbage because of one game (esp when his overall playoff resume is good). Is like saying Kirk was an All-Pro receiver this year because he put up 100+ yards and a TD last night.
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Let Trevor do this and the whole TL is on his ass, let CJ do this and it’s crickets
John@iam_johnw
Cj stroud is ass lmao
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@UCF_Jaguar How can Texans fans say Stroud is anywhere near Lawrence?
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