During the last few weeks in San Jose, Mayor Matt Mahan, and City Manager Jennifer Maguire, along with the usual cadre of publicists and office staff, made several hastily arranged visits to various City departments throughout the city with a singular purpose: hand-deliver cookies and treats to the frontline staff as a token of appreciation.  Within hours, photos of these whirlwind photo-ops make their way to social media, and the general public is treated to the sight of city workers smiling enthusiastically, cookies in hand, straight out of the strike-busting playbook used by so many would-be union busters before them to remind workers that “we’re all a family here.”

On Wednesday, July 12th, the Union engaged in mediation with a state mediator and representatives from the city, hoping to reach a settlement. The City Council took their summer break without giving the City’s bargaining team any additional authority to up their offer, which made it impossible to make for us to make any meaningful progress during mediation. As a result, we have reached a critical juncture where we must consider alternative measures to ensure our needs are heard and met.

The Municipal Employees' Federation MEF-AFSCME) is pleased to inform you that a mediation date has been set for July 12th, providing us with another opportunity to reach an agreement for a new contract that addresses our concerns and secures a better future for all of us.

Download a copy of the first Strike FAQ for your worksite

Last week, the City delivered its “Last, Best, and Final Offer” to the Union, and so on Monday, the Union officially declared an impasse and notified the City that we cannot accept their offer under the current terms. You can read the full Declaration of Impasse here, which contains the Union’s final offer and a summary of the Union’s position, including where our differences exist with the City’s position on several topics.

On Wednesday, your bargaining team met with the City for what appears to be the last time. The City gave the Union its “Last, Best and Final” offer. It is a three-year agreement that would increase wages by 5%, 4%, and 3% each year. It contains no provision for the return of the 5% non-pensionable increase, no agreement on eight weeks of paid family leave, and no agreement to count PTO towards the calculation of overtime even when the OT is mandated. There was also no agreement on special increases for classifications despite earlier statements from the City that they wanted to focus on classifications with more than a 10% vacancy rate.