On Tuesday, April 25th, a couple of hundred members of MEF Local 101, Local 21, and ABMEI met outside of City Hall and marched into City Council chambers together. Their plan was simple, deliver a petition over 75 feet long that contained the names and signatures of over 2,000 City workers!
The petition had a straightforward message…
Your MEF Local 101 Bargaining Team met with the City on April 26th and FINALLY received a wage proposal from them. In a disappointing but unfortunately not surprising move, the City only proposed a 3% wage increase in each of the next three years...
Unfortunately, the City remains willfully tone-deaf and doesn’t understand the
We’ve placed advertisements on buses all over the City to help educate our residents about the ongoing vacancy problem and some of the impacts that has on them.
If you happen to see one, grab a photo and tag us on social media and your location. Or email us at staffupsanjose.org
Keep an eye out on your TV, too, for your colleagues taking to the television screen to talk to residents in their living rooms about the vacancy problem and on them to take action to Staff Up San Jose!
Your MEF – AFSCME Local 101 Bargaining Team met again with City leadership today and made additional proposals to address the City's vacancies problem and lack of ability to recruit and retain staff. Today, our proposals focused on recruitment, and we made the following proposals.
Here's a very quick update about our first session of contract talks with the City.
Typically, the first couple of bargaining sessions do not address any "big topics" like wage increases or major changes to benefits. However, this morning your Union bargaining team did make several proposals to the City including an additional day off - to be used at the employee's choice to recognize holidays that may be observed by staff - but that aren't observed by the City. In addition, we made several proposals focused on strengthening our Union and giving City workers a more powerful voice when it comes to the decisions that affect our jobs including alternative schedules and remote work.
By now, I’m sure most of you have seen the email from our City Manager, Jennifer Maguire, celebrating Women’s History Month. As a woman in a leadership role myself, I’m glad the City Manager took time out to remind us that “Women’s History Month began in 1981 as a week of recognition, rooted in the issues of equal treatment, rights, and protections, and San José has been a leading community for women at the vanguard of our nation’s history.” Somewhat conveniently, she ends the story there and fails to point to where that small amount of power came from - America’s first pay equity strike right here in San Jose by the MEF – AFSCME members that came before us. The City Manager also doesn’t mention how the City of San Jose is still woefully behind regarding issues affecting women – particularly among the ranks of women City workers. Only two short years ago did we finally achieve just one week of paid maternity leave – for example. One lousy week. It took us fighting and clawing for every inch to accomplish that, and we’re two decades into the 21st century.
