Join Hayward workers in protest against imposition TONIGHT! Tuesday, Feb. 18, 5:30 PM @777 B St., Hayward, 94541

Statement from SEIU Local 1021 President Roxanne Sanchez:

Today, the Hayward City Council is holding a hearing to impose their own terms and conditions on Hayward’s city workers. The Alameda County Democratic Party, the Alameda Central Labor Council, members of the community and their own employees — all have urged them not to do so.

The Hayward City Council’s move unilaterally forces a one-year contract on their workers instead of finding a framework for an agreement, bypasses the ‘fact-finding process’ as well as rules for collective bargaining.

Assistant City Manager Kelly McAdoo’s claim that the city has made multiple offers that was rejected by union leadership is patently false. If the employer was truly willing to sit down and work with their employees, they had more than 8 months to do it.

A neutral, third party factfinder (similar to a mediator), selected by both the City and Union, concluded that the City of Hayward has the ability to begin wage restoration. Rather than take the 70-page document seriously, the city rejected the recommendations and one day after the report went public, posted the notice of an imposition hearing.

City officials misused the bargaining and factfinding process as a means to an end — to impose a concessionary contract. They distorted labor and financial realities in order to justify a 5% cut to workers’ pay and wages on top of the 12% they already took from workers.

That is a total of a 17% cut in take-home pay for many who are among the city’s lowest paid employees. That additional cut equals several hundred dollars each month and could be a lost home, car or college tuition.

City officials dragged their employees through a time-consuming and ugly labor dispute. Labor, community and political organizations urged the council to do the right thing and get back to the table. On Jan. 8, 2014, the Alameda County Democratic Party passed a resolution urging the City Council to reach a fair agreement with their workforce.

The resolution, submitted by Supervisor Richard Valle, Assemblyman Bill Quirk, Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski and State Senator Ellen Corbett, reads in part, ‘the Alameda County Democratic Party stands with the workers in the City of Hayward in the fight for a fair contract and calls on all parties involved in the dispute to reach amicable resolution to this difficult situation through honest negotiations at the bargaining table, and to pursue a solution without resorting to imposition.’

There is room for both wage restoration while also helping the city’s long-term finances. That solution needs to be civilly agreed upon by the city and the union, as proposed in the fact-finding report. The union has offered to accept the report and put it to our members for a vote.

I urge the Mayor and City Council to vote ‘no’ to impose and immediately get back to the table to work on a fair agreement.

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SEIU 1021’s Hayward chapter represents more than 350 city workers, from librarian assistants, water sanitation and water treatment workers, street maintenance and road crews, crime scene technicians, 911 dispatchers and administrative staff.