Union workers rally for fair contract
City has stalled negotiations, union members say
–Local 620 SEIU, a Central Coast union that represents city workers in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County, held a rally yesterday evening in front of the library/city hall building.
Close to 100 local union members showed up to protest, holding signs and wearing graphic shirts that called for a fair contract with the city. Members say they have been bargaining since October 2014 and after almost 18 months there is still no agreement between the city and the union. The current Memorandum of Understanding expired on Dec. 31, 2014.
The Pomerico family: Cindy, Matt, Logan, Stephanie and Angela.
They say the city has offered a total of a 2-percent salary increase over two years with no retroactivity back to the expiration of the contract, meaning that over two years, union members would effectively see less than a 1-percent increase in salary over the two years of the contract.
Most jurisdictions in the area are seeing annual two to four percent increases in salary with some jurisdictions also obtaining benefit increases to cover the rising costs of health insurance, according to Field Representative/Internal Organizer Darryl Scheck.
“We just want a fair contract,” said Building and Maintenance worker Jesus Romero. Romero has been working with the city for 10 years.
“17 months without a union contract: that’s stubbornness, at least negotiate,” said Cindy Pomerico, whose husband has worked with the state for 27 years.
