Raises delayed to save city jobs
| Thursday, Apr 22 2010 06:09 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Apr 22 2010 06:19 PM
Some Bakersfield city employees voted to delay scheduled pay raises to reduce layoffs and help narrow a looming budget gap, union officials announced Thursday.
The move is expected to save about $850,000 and 13 jobs in the new fiscal year, which starts July 1. The city is currently looking for ways to close an $8.7 million budget gap, not including the raises.
Even with the postponed raise, about a dozen layoffs are expected in the next fiscal year, though the number could change as the budget process continues, said James Geluso, spokesman for SEIU Local 521. The union represents 725 blue- and white-collar city workers. The union did not disclose how many employees voted or the breakdown of the vote.
"This is the second time in a year that workers have voted to defer a negotiated salary increase," said Billy Owens, union president and a city code enforcement officer, in a release. "We are hopeful that a recovering economy and cost-effective budgeting by the city will allow us to get back on track next year."
The amendments extend the contract by one year -- through the end of 2012 -- and delay a pair of 2 percent raises until December 2011 and July 2012. Before the vote, the raises were scheduled for December 2010 and September 2011. Originally, a single 4 percent raise was slated for 2009 but members agreed to a previous deferment.
City Manager Alan Tandy called the second set of deferrals “a particularly significant act” and thanked the union on behalf of his staff and the City Council.
“Their positive vote will help to limit service damage,” Tandy wrote in an e-mail. “We greatly appreciate the cooperation of SEIU in recognizing that in difficult times, sacrifice and working together are essential.”
Relations with the city's two other labor unions, which represent police and firefighters, remain strained.
The Bakersfield City Council held a so-called "impasse hearing" April 7 with the Bakersfield Police Officers Association and voted to remove all previous offers in order to start negotiations anew.
The union, which represents about 345 sworn officers, believes the move was illegal. The union says the council should have chosen from final offers on the table, both of which included 8 percent raises. Sgt. Bill Ware, union president, said the association's lawyer is getting ready to file court papers when a legal window comes open next month. Police have been working without a contract since their last one expired June 30, 2007.
Firefighters, meanwhile, are still negotiating with the city but have been working without a contract since April 1, 2008. Robert Melton, a department engineer and president of the Bakersfield Firefighters Association, said the latest round of offers was made April 15. Melton called the city's offer "very regressive" but said he'll nevertheless take it to members for a vote. The union represents about 176 city firefighters.
