Flanked by politicians and city union workers during a news conference Thursday, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley asked council to pass the wage ordinance he's proposing.
It would give employees five percent pay raises for two years and a four percent hike the third year.
No city council members were present for Cranley's press conference; and they will have the final word. So far, only two of the nine members have expressed support for Cranley's plan.
Fraternal Order of Police President Sgt. Dan Hils says this issue is becoming very political.
"I guess sometimes doing the right thing can be political and that's something that's just a fact," Hils said. "So they can be one in the same. If somebody gains politically from doing the right thing that's the way this system was made to be."
Mayor Cranley says workers deserve this raise.
"We all know that this country was built by the middle class," Cranley said. "This is about middle class values. The people who pick up our garbage, plow our streets, run into burning buildings and put themselves in harm way and there is violence on the streets where they are."
AFL-CIO Executive Secretary-Treasurer Peter McLinden supports the mayor's plan and called on council to make Cincinnati a worker-friendly city.
"Stop making excuses," McLinden said. "It's not illegal. It's affordable. You just need the will to take that action."
City Manager Harry Black says the city and the police union are back at the bargaining table. In a memo Black suggested the mayor's actions could undermine the city's collective bargaining efforts.
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