There will be more pain ahead for Forest Park’s municipal finances as COVID-19’s impact on revenues hovers like a dark cloud. And so it is good news to see unionized village employees agree to extend freezes on planned pay raises for another three months.
It is a generous action, it is a prudent action by the staff as always fragile village finances have worsened markedly with COVID. Keeping the village government fiscally stable is in the interest of all parties.
The savings to the village in not having to pay out pay hikes of 2.5 percent right now are not huge but they are a notable concession. Workers are not giving back any wages and they are earning both a guarantee of no layoffs during this time period. Most importantly the unions are sending the message that hard times demand share sacrifice. And that message will resonate in the future when we get back to anything near normal.
