Local union members cheered from city hall’s meeting room after Madison’s city Council voted unanimously Thursday to approve a contract that will cut wages but likely avoid layoffs.
Although the new contract reduces pay by three percent, it protects members of the American Federal of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 60 from from further cuts or layoffs that the state could take away.
The contract, which will begin when the current one expires in March 2014, will run for an additional year, prevents further cuts to union workers and saves the city approximately $900,000, according to Mayor Paul Soglin.
Despite the wage cuts, AFSCME Local 60 Vice President Tim Birkley said the union was more than willing to agree to the city’s stipulations because it “[maintains] services and [keeps] Madison efficient and one of the greatest cities in the country.”
Local unions have been rushing to finalize new contracts since a Dane County judge ruled Sept. 14 that parts of Act 10, a law limiting collective bargaining for most public employees, were unconstitutional.
Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said the city is supporting more than 2,000 city employees through this agreement.
“We want to go through these financial challenges along side [city workers] and not against them,” he said.
Soglin said the real benefit of this agreement is collaborating with local workers who provide services to the city such as policing the downtown and keeping Madison’s streets clear from snow in the winter.
But in order to uphold its end of the agreement, Soglin said the city will use $1 million from its reserve funds that will impact the city’s operating budget. The mayor will his proposed operating budget Oct. 2.
“You never want to dip into [the reserve fund] for your operating budget unless it’s a one time response,” Soglin said.
By using reserve funds to provide for city services, other items included in the budget such as police coverage and the Downtown Safety Initiative could be affected, according to Resnick.
“This does send a very serious message to the entire city council and the entire community that this is going to be a very rough budgetary season,” Resnick said.
