Pittsburgh Braces for 300+ Job Cuts

It looks like bad news is coming to the workers of the city of Pittsburgh. The city is getting ready to cut back sharply on its public transportation services and in the name of that effort they are looking to cut back on a significant number of jobs. The city will be cutting back on a significant number routes, increasing public transportation fairs and if all goes the way it seems cutting back on jobs.

46 routes are set to be cut in early September as the public transportation system makes a 35% cut to its services. The fairs will also go up as the city expects citizens to pay more in the way of costs of running the transportation system. Those price increases will not be waiting for the September deadline. Consumers will begin to pay more on July 1^st .

The layoffs, which are set to impact 560 workers in total, will only happen if the union for the transportation workers is unwilling to bend to the serious cuts that the city wants them to make. It will not take long here to see if the layoffs will go into effect or not. The current contract will expire at the end of the month, so a decision must be made by then. If they do go into effect they will be more than enough to qualify as a mass layoff action under the current guidelines. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.”

Interestingly enough the city does have jobs listed under the current opening section of its employment site is still listing openings for a wide range of positions. The city is looking to hire everything from a “HISTORIC PRESERVATION INTERN”, to a “DESIGN REVIEW SPECIALIST” and even a “SUPERVISOR OF CASHIERS”. So there must be some room in the budget for new hires.

This is not the first time that the city has had to make tough choices with its budget. Some of you may recall last year’s coverage of cuts the city was thinking about making to early childhood education services, but for those of you who missed out here is an excerpt that will get you up to speed in no time at all, “ The $3 million cut in state funding for early childhood education programs can cause a serious layoff of government teachers. Up to 15 early childhood teachers, 13 paraprofessionals and six other staffers can lose their jobs. The number of children in prekindergarten were reduced by 20% or 400 children. Overall, the Pittsburgh Public Schools are expected to cut loose 150 teachers and staff members. The axe fell at teachers from all disciplines and they are expected to receive an official notice by Monday.”