Overtime Changes Ahead For Mobile City Workers?

The Mobile County Personnel Board is expected to make a decision Thursday morning on changing overtime pay for city workers.
Police officers and firefighters would be among the workers affected.
Mobile Mayor Sam Jones is asking the personnel board to change overtime rules.
The mayor said under his proposal, the city would be able to save enough money to raise salary levels overall.
Jones said, "It is what we have to do to be competitive as a city. It is what we have to do to provide for the 2500 employees at the city of Mobile."
Right now, for example, if a city employee takes a vacation day on a Monday, and works nine hours each day Tuesday through Friday later that week, the employee would be paid four hours overtime at time and a half.
Under the mayor's proposal, employees would only get the overtime pay if they work more than forty hours a week.
Associations that represent police and firefighters think the change is a bad idea.
Donald Scott with the Alabama Police Benevolent Association said, "If they (police officers) take a day off, they're going to be penalized, either as far as a sick child, having to go to the hospital or the doctor, or for an emergency at the school."
John Wiggins with Mobile Firefighters Local 1349 said, "When you work under a system for four decades and its done one way and you change it, and it hurts a guy's billfold, then we constitute that as losing a benefit. That's the only way we can look at it."
The meeting starts at 8:30 am at board offices at 1809 Government Street.