Three months into negotiations for a new contract, about five
dozen Hollister employees and their families packed the City
Council chambers this week and publicly voiced concern about the
talks
– a notion City Manager Dale Shaddox called inappropriate.
”
There really is no basis or justification for conducting any of
these conversations in a public arena,
”
Shaddox said on Tuesday.
Three months into negotiations for a new contract, about five dozen Hollister employees and their families packed the City Council chambers this week and publicly voiced concern about the talks – a notion City Manager Dale Shaddox called inappropriate.
“There really is no basis or justification for conducting any of these conversations in a public arena,” Shaddox said on Tuesday.
The workers – members of the Service Employees International Union Local 817 – are negotiating for a new contract after their previous three-year deal expired on June 30.
When a contract is ratified, aspects of the agreement will be retroactive to July 1, Shaddox said.
About 45 to 50 of the union’s 71 members attended the Council meeting and several members addressed the Council during the public comment period.
Speakers said they wanted to receive equal respect as members of the city’s police and fire departments.
“We want to be considered the same as the fire and police,” said Danny Hillstock, a city engineer and current president of the union. “We are the people that repair your streets. We repair your sewer lines when they breakdown, we repair your water lines.”
Shaddox said contrary to concerns expressed by union members, it was normal for negotiations to continue “a few weeks to a few months beyond the expiration of the old contract.”
“They (negotiations) are ongoing and really very positive,” Shaddox said.
The SEIU members make up about 44 percent of all Hollister employees, according to Hillstock. Members’ salaries – not including benefits – cost the city about $3.8 million during the last fiscal year.
Additionally, there are two other city employee groups – independent from SEIU – also currently negotiating for a new contract.
One of the associations is an eight-member “confidential group” that oversees an array of negotiations for Hollister, Shaddox said, and is representing itself.
The other group negotiating for new contracts is made up of mid-level management employees, including RDA Director Bill Avera, Recreation Services Manager Robert Ornelas and 11 others.
Regarding Shaddox’s assertion that workers were out of line speaking at the meeting about the negotiations, Local 817 Executive Director John Vellardita responded, “We respectfully disagree.”
“Does the city manager show the same concern when police and fire show up (at the Council meetings)?” Vellardita said.
Vellardita was bringing up two recent Council meetings – one in January at which firefighters packed the chambers to support negotiations for their latest contract, and a budget hearing in July at which police officers were present.
Shaddox, however, had not been hired yet during the fire department contract negotiations. A team of three department heads negotiated that contract for the city, while interim City Manager Ed Kreins offered input on the process.
The focus of the July meeting had been the Council’s consideration whether to hire additional police officers for the current fiscal year. The most recent HPD contract was ratified in July 2002, Shaddox said.
Councilman Robert Scattini said SEIU employees were wrong to compare their situation to public safety officers because, “It’s like apples and oranges.”
Furthermore, he said, the city was not in a position to give raises.
“Everybody in the world knows that the world is broke,” Scattini said.
Vellardita said the SEIU was “cognizant” of the hard economic times. The union, he said, is seeking salary increases equal to cost of living increases in the area. The city’s current offer, he said, “falls short of what they have negotiated with police and fire.”
Shaddox declined comment on details of negotiations.
“I don’t think it’s frustration,” Vellardita said. “It’s concern that this thing is dragging out, and we need to bring closure to it.”
Scattini said the city would like to give raises, but reiterated, “It’s not that we don’t respect them, but we don’t have the money.”
