During Madison City Council’s Tuesday meeting, the council discussed a resolution that would grant city workers wage increases and a resolution supporting University of Wisconsin Health nurses union elections.
During the meeting, council members discussed a resolution to provide a plan to give municipal workers pay raises to a more equitable standard.
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In the public comment section, District 13 resident Kevin Gundlach spoke on behalf of the South Central Federation of Labor. Gundlach said he supported bringing all city worker wage increases to parity with protected service employees.
“Wage increase equity is a fundamental issue that workers, through their unions, have always strived for,” Gundlach said.
Gundlach said from the beginning of his time as a municipal worker, he had seen discrimination among which workers and departments got wage increases. Gundlach said joining a union gave him the chance to argue in favor of wage increase equity.
Item 55 of the Common Council meeting included a referred resolution regarding union elections for UW Health nurses. The resolution, sponsored by the Mayor and other alders, seeks to grant fair and fast elections for the nurses’ union.
In the public comment section, UW Hospital nurse Aaron Singer explained how the lack of recognition for the nurses’ union has affected their work during the pandemic.
“Now that UW’s a non-union hospital, it feels like there’s an oppositional atmosphere,” Singer said.
Singer said nurses’ wages were cut without any discussion or compromise.
The full agenda for the Sept. 21 meeting can be found here. City Council will hold their next meeting Tuesday Oct. 5 at 6:30 p.m.
