The city can drag it out as long as it wants to....and they will. Last time we went 1 1/2 years before getting a new contract. Here's the senario: they keep giving crappy offers, or none at all, and refuse to agree to anything we ask for. So, the longer they go without us getting a raise, they save money. When they eventually offer a contract, we lose in some way or another, ie. no back pay, or, like last time, we give up something valuablelike our health insurance. The city government is going