City Employees Union Responds to Mayor White

Mayor Bill White says his budget calls for tough choices in these tough economic times. 

Among several controversial items, he is proposing that the city allow some positions within the workforce to remain unfilled.

During a news conference at city hall Tuesday afternoon, the mayor said he was not calling for a hiring freeze, but that “some positions will go unfilled and the work will be challenging for the remaining employees.”

Alejandra Valles, the executive director of HOPE  released this statement:  

“We recognize that these are hard economic times.  Our city employees are committed to finding efficiencies in their departments—just like they are having to do at home.  We are concerned that the Mayor has still not reached out to frontline employees with regard to budget cuts, unfilled vacancies, and drastically expanded workloads.  All these issues will have a direct impact on the city’s ability to provide services to Houston.  It is disappointing that the Mayor refuses to look inside to his own family—the frontline employees of Houston, and instead hired management consultants using scarce taxpayer money.”