New Orleans lays off half its workforce

The layoff announcement comes as the city’s $13 million monthly sales tax revenue has shrunk to nothing in the aftermath of the Katrina disaster. Nagin said that negotiations for loans from state and federal agencies have yielded zero dollars so far, and a $50 million line of credit sought from private lenders had yet to be secured.

“We are just not able to put together the financing necessary to maintain staffing at City Hall at its current level,” Nagin said at a press conference Tuesday. “We have no revenue stream, and the prospect of getting revenue streams is pretty dicey. I think we can limp along for another month or two, but beyond two months we’ll have to see.”

While the city expects to save $5 million to $8 million a month with the layoffs, Nagin warned, “We will probably have to do some more belt-tightening.”

Workers considered “essential”—such as police officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, Sewerage & Water workers, and health and building inspectors—are for the most part not affected. All other city employees’ jobs, however, are on the chopping block, and administrative employees in these “essential” departments will not be spared. Nagin described the layoffs as “pretty permanent” and said the prospects were not good for rehiring anyone down the road.

Sacked workers will receive their final paychecks on either October 14 or October 21 (depending on their pay cycle). City employees were instructed to return city-issued vehicles, cell phones and other property immediately.

Although figures are unavailable, many of the New Orleans city workers losing their jobs are still reeling from the loss of their homes as a result of the Katrina disaster. The federal government has done nothing to provide shelter or low-cost housing to the majority of victims, many of whom have lost everything, including loved ones in some cases, in the hurricane.

Nagin held out the highly unlikely prospect that displaced city workers could be earning higher wages in their new locations. “Hopefully, they have landed on their feet,” he said glibly.

The layoff announcement follows last week’s statement by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who said that a rebuilt New Orleans will have fewer poor blacks. While predicting that as many as 375,000 of the city’s 500,000 residents would eventually return, Jackson said only 35 to 40 percent would be African-American, as opposed to more than two-thirds prior to Katrina. The gutting of the city’s workforce will certainly contribute to making his prediction a reality, as job prospects dwindle.

Read More
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/newo-o06.shtml