This story was reported for San Diego News Network on April 15, 2009.
Fire trucks drove through C Street in downtown on Tuesday around 2 p.m. Their sirens blared through the nearby buildings and echoed as far as the halls of the San Diego City Council chambers. Perhaps, it was a sign from the firemen of San Diego City Firefighters Local 145, who are now among two unions to reach a tentative labor agreement with the city.
After Mayor Jerry Sanders made a brief statement, asking the council to delay an impasse declaration until April 20, the eight councilmembers talked labor until about 10:30 p.m. By the end of their meeting, Firefighters Local 145, Municipal Employees Association (MEA) and Deputy City Attorneys Association reached tentative agreements with the mayor’s labor team, while the council unanimously declared an impasse with the remaining two: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 127 and the Police Officers Association.
The City Council discussed the possible union impasse and labor agreements after Sanders introduced his budget on Monday – clarifying that the $60 million deficit could only be fixed if there was a 6 percent cut in all city salaries, equaling $30 million. Among different offers, the agreeing unions accepted a two-year-freeze to employee salaries.
“I am here today to sadly inform you that after three months of negotiations with the mayor’s team we have failed to come to an agreement,” POA president Brian Marvel said to the council.
The mayor’s labor team said they disagreed with the POA on several issues, including the elimination of benefit, age eligibility and annuity to the controversial DROP program. The mayor’s office even went as far to file a lawsuit against POA on April 2.
AFSCME did not side with the mayor’s team on their “Fair Share” proposal. This request would eliminate $2.4 million in wages and the alteration of additional “special pay.”
“Local 127 workers are more than will to make sacrifices to help the city to get over this slump,” attorney of AFSCME Local 127 Ann Smith said.
She went on to say the cuts would equal to roughly $200 a month for the union’s blue-collar employees – a harsh sacrifice to employees who already live “paycheck to paycheck” and sometimes, worked two or three jobs.
Evan McLaughlin, the political director for San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, said AFSCME’s proposal would have reduced the overall salary by the same amount without directly reducing compensation for employees.
As of Wednesday morning, AFSCME had not yet determined what the union’s next steps will be, according to McLaughlin. He also would not comment on the final 8-0 unanimous city council vote.
Marvel said POA hasn’t fully soaked-in the results yet.
“I don’t know if what happened really (sunk) in yet with our members,” Marvel said. “We’ll have to evaluate what happens now and look into the retirement funds.”
He said about 100 police officers are near retirement. However, because of the impasse there may now be up to 150 retirees.
At the council meeting, Sanders addressed how simply laying off employees, rather than initiating pay cuts, would be more disruptive to the city. He reinforced this message during his budget conference on Monday and a library press conference on Tuesday.
“In seeking these concessions, it has been my goal to avoid laying off city employees,” Sanders told the City Council.”Reducing our workforce would not only adversely impact employees and their families; it would also erode public services through the closure of libraries and recreation centers and reduced public safety coverage. This is not acceptable to me and it is not acceptable to the public.”
The Council also listened to numerous comments from the public, in which one blue-collar worker said, “We want a fair contract. We don’t want the world.”
The City has approximately 10,500 employees – AFSCME and POA both represent about 2,000 employees.
Sanders presented his proposed budget on Monday, during which he announced three ways to relieve the city of the $60 million deficit. Among the 6 percent salary cut, he proposed tapping into a $17.8 million reserve, $6.7 million in new fees, $3.7 million from a library systems fund and relying on the approved franchise fee hikes of $4.3 million.
The proposal drops the general fund from $1.19 billion last fiscal year to $1.15 billion beginning July 1, 2010.
In a report released last year by the Independent Budget Analyst department, the city has attempted to solve the deficit since FY03 using “one-time” practices. In reality, the deficit was “structural” needing structural solutions. The one-time solutions offered by the city in the past included the reduction of services, such as libraries, parks and safety units.
The IBA and the mayor’s offices did not immediately respond to a requested interview.
Wire Services contributed to this report. Hoa Quach is the political editor for the San Diego News Network.