Greetings:

I never thought it would happen to me! "Get a civil service job," they said. "The pay may be lousy, but you got good benefits and job security."

Well, my union recently notified me that after 30 years working for the City of New York, I will be one of 857 supervispory employees who will be laid off as of the close of business on June 30, 2003. That leaves me with four options:

1. Apply for one of 200 newly created jobs that are roughly equivalent in pay, and are nearly identical in duties and responsibilities. The catch is that these are new titles, meaning that if I take one I would be a provisional employee until regularly appointed -- a process that could take a year or more -- during which time I would serve at the pleasure of some higher up. And if I were appointed, I would lose my existing seniority and start off from scratch. Yes, my union is filing an unfair labor practices complaint, but that will take a long time to resolve.

2. Apply for one of 70 newly created jobs that pay substantial more. The downside is the as same for the 200 jobs mentioned above, but the upside is that I would be making $105k per annum.

3. Revert to my previous non-supervisory position. That would mean a cut in pay of about 15 to 20 percent. But at least I would have 25 years seniority in that title. By the way, since I have the right to revert, I cannot collect unemployment insurance benefits.

4. Retire. I'm only 56, but this option is looking better and better. I may be able to work part-time for the City, as I'm permitted to earn up to $25k per annum while drawing a pension. In addition, I'll be eligible for Social Security in less than 6 years,


So here's where I need advice. What should I do if I'm offered one of the 200 jobs? My gut feeling is tell them, "Thanks, but no thanks," and then retire.

What if I'm offered one of the 70 high paying jobs? I would really be tempted to say "yes," but then I'd be one of the "suits" and I'd have to finally act like an adult. Yuck!

What if I'm not offered anything? As I said, retirement looks mighty attractive.

Please help. I'll have to decide really soon.

Thanks.

--- Steve