By RUSS OLIVO

PROVIDENCE — A high-stakes legal bid by Woonsocket’s municipal labor unions to block deep cuts in wages and benefits the city says are needed to avoid  bankruptcy is still struggling to get off the ground in Superior Court.

After conferencing with a judge for the second time Monday, a bevy of lawyers representing four labor unions and the city was instructed to return to court at 9 tomorrow morning. But it’s still unclear whether there will be a hearing on the unions’ efforts to block the cuts.
City Solicitor Robert Iuliano said that before a hearing takes place, a judge will have to be chosen to preside in the matter. Judge Mark Pfeiffer, who met with the lawyers Monday, is poised to retire and may pass the case on to another member of the judiciary.
At issue is whether the unions — representing some 350 police officers, firefighters, clerks, secretaries and laborers — will be granted an order prohibiting the city from enforcing a $3.6 million deficit-elimination plan that calls for major rollbacks in salary and benefits. Crafted by Mayor Susan D. Menard and voted into law by the City Council last week, the plan would require all city workers to take a 5 percent salary cut and begin paying 15 percent of their annual health insurance premiums, effective Feb. 5.
All four of the city’s major labor unions are pressing the case that the plan violates their existing collective bargaining agreements or other labor laws.
They include Local 670 of AFSCME, Local 3851 Professional and Technical Employees (both units of Council 94), Local 404 International Brotherhood of Police Officers and Local 737 of the International Association of Firefighters.
Lawyers for the unions left the courtroom rather quickly after meeting with Pfeiffer, but a handful of city officials and legal representatives stayed behind, using the strongest rhetoric yet to put the stakes involved into perspective.
“If the injunction is granted the city is facing either massive layoffs or the city will fall into bankruptcy,” said Iuliano. “We don’t want to be the first city to declare bankruptcy, but the reality is, somebody is going to do it. We’re not the only city in this situation.”
Planning Director Joel Mathews said the latest projections run by Finance Director Ted Przybyla forecast the city running out of cash to pay bills and payroll between the second and third week of March if the injunction is granted. Echoing comments the mayor issued in a bluntly-worded letter to school officials last week, Mathews said union school teachers must also make further sacrifices in order to keep the city from running out of money.
The roots of the legal dispute go back to Gov. Donald Carcieri’s efforts to balance the state budget by eliminating general revenue sharing to cities and towns –  $4.2 million for Woonsocket, including some $600,000 destined for the School Department.
In order to remain solvent, Mathews said, the city must not only hang onto the austerity plan on the municipal side of government, but it must win similar concessions from teachers. Without those concessions, Mathews said the School Department could eliminate its projected deficit of some $1 million and the city would still run out of money by before April. The issue isn’t so much about balancing the budget, he said, but maintaining cash flow.
“I don’t think the urgency of this has been adequately expressed,” he said. “If you don’t have cash to make payments, whether it be for paychecks or for bills, I guess the city is insolvent.”
Reached by telephone, School Committee Chairman Marc Dubois said most teachers already pay 15 percent of their health insurance premiums, and the Woonsocket Teachers Guild has already accepted deferrals of wage hikes for two years in attempts to save money. Nevertheless, Dubois pledged that he and Supt. Robert Gerardi would return to the membership to see if teachers who remain exempt from premium-sharing are amenable to a rollback in their benefits.
“It’s something we’ll explore,” he said. “We’ll see if the teachers with more seniority are willing to take the same hit that some of their less-senior peers already do. It might possibly help in saving some of their positions.”
Despite the looming legal battle on the municipal side, all the parties seem to be holding out hope for a negotiated settlement that could render the need for a courtroom hearing moot. All four unions are to meet with the administration to resume talks, at Pfeiffer’s urging, said Mathews.
“Council 94 will confirm we are currently seeking a temporary restraining order, injunctive relief and declaratory judgment to preserve our rights under the collective bargaining laws of the state of Rhode Island,” Jim Cenerini, a spokesman for Council 94, said. “We believe the city’s unilateral attempts to impose terms are unlawful. We will be back in court to seek all avenues of relief Wednesday and both of our municipal unions will be meeting with city officials Tuesday in attempts to continue negotiations.”
Iuliano said that if the unions are victorious in court, the city would, in effect, be forced into federal Bankruptcy Court. In bankruptcy, the city would no longer have to honor any injunctions imposed by the courts or any previously negotiated collective bargaining agreements. Still, Iuliano said bankruptcy would be a double-edged sword, crippling the city’s bond rating and placing the Woonsocket Middle School project in jeopardy.
Though Iuliano has been a vocal spokesman for the city’s dilemma, he is excused from participating in any action relating from the related legal proceedings. During a brief conference last week, Judge Richard Israel ordered Iuliano to recuse himself because he is affected – arguably, more than other workers - by the budget-balancing ordinances at issue. As an amendment to Menard’s proposed ordinances, the City Council cut Iuliano’s $52,400-a-year salary by $15,000 – about six times as much as other workers.
In place of Iuliano, the city hired former city solicitor Chris Lambert of the firm Rodio & Ursillo to represent the city in the dispute with the unions.