In an emergency City Council meeting Thursday, the City of Madison came to an agreement with a local union that allowed the two parties to continue collectively bargaining until March 2015.
The Council voted unanimously to approve the agreement to extend the former March 2014 deadline for collective bargaining with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 60. AFSCME represents 1,100 city employees.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the agreement between the City of Madison and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 60 Union extends the former March 2014 deadline for collective bargaining an additional 12 months. AFSCME represents 1,100 city employees.
The majority of AFSCME agreed with this decision, with 73 percent of its members voting in favor of the compromise with the city, according to Verveer.
According to Mayor Paul Soglin, if the two parties had not come to this compromise, in March 2014 bargaining rights would no longer exist and the city would be in a position to make reductions in wages or benefits to city employees as it saw fit.
A strong bargaining unit is in the interest of union members and management, Soglin said. He said if the collective bargaining rights expired in 2014 as previously scheduled, the city would be forced to make more cuts and reductions.
“By having this agreement, we can sit down with the workers who provide the service to the city to figure out what is in everyone’s best interest,” Soglin said. “We can do it as a team as we have done for decades, rather than make decisions unilaterally.”
Verveer said this decision came about after Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Col?s declared Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 that banned collective bargaining for public unions unconstitutional. The ruling only applied to local governments and school districts, not state employees.
Soglin said the bargaining units have shown great maturity because although they have faced 8- to-10 percent losses in income as a result of Act 10, they continue to work with the city to figure out how to serve the community. The union members have agreed to a 3 percent pay cut, which could save the city millions of dollars, according to Verveer.
Verveer also said this extension of collective bargaining rights is currently taking place in Dane County and the Madison Metropolitan School District as well to keep the union voice in the workplace.
Staff Representative for AFSCME Jennifer McCulley said she wants to thank the city for supporting unions.
“Madison leaders understand you can’t have quality service without quality workers, and employees need a voice in the workplace,” McCulley said.
In the 2013 operating budget that Soglin will reveal next week, the city will go into its reserves to continue city services as a one-time event. He added without these agreements, the city would not be able to justify making the decision in such a “rational and sound” manner.
Verveer said he is in strong favor of this agreement with union workers.
“I very much have seen first-hand over the years the value of workers having a formal voice in the workplace,” Verveer said. “It’s quite helpful and provides for a better delivery of city services to our community.”
If Col?s grants the city more time, it will adopt some additional union contracts at the City Council meeting next Tuesday, Verveer said.
