By Khalida Sarwari
The San Jose City Council voted tonight to defer deciding whether to impose a 10 percent cut in wages and benefits on five city unions and to defer their vote on the budget until later this week.
After nearly three hours of deliberation and comments from representatives of the unions, the council voted 9-2 to defer making a decision until Thursday or Friday.
Councilmen Pierluigi Oliverio and Pete Constant dissented on the motion to defer the decision, which Madison Nguyen proposed to give the city and union negotiators more time to reach an agreement.
“We need to do this today,” Constant said. “We’ve pretty much run out of time.”
Councilman Ash Kalra, however, said that by postponing the decision, “We have a great opportunity to start healing… to bring everyone together.”
In March, Mayor Chuck Reed asked workers to take a 10 percent cut in wages and benefits to save a significant number of jobs and services in the face of a $118 million deficit.
After months of negotiating with six bargaining units, the city reached an agreement with the Association of Legal Professionals Monday night.
This afternoon, the council unanimously approved a proposal for 10 percent concessions in total compensation from the union, which represents 46 public attorneys.
Today, a coalition of the remaining five unions placed an offer on the table that they claim is equal to a 10 percent concession in total compensation, said Michelle McGurk, a spokeswoman for Reed.
Many of the union members addressed the council during the public comment period and pleaded that they defer imposing the cuts for another week. Some members said they have agreed to proposals that meet the city’s demand, but that their offers were rejected due to legal issues.
Following the vote, John Mukhar, a senior environmental engineer and member of the Association of Engineers and Architects, said he is confident that an agreement would be reached by the end of the week.
“We’re very happy that the council gave us this opportunity to work with them,” Mukhar said. “Our goals are the same: to save jobs and city services. We are offering exactly what they’re asking for.”
The five unions still negotiating are the City Association of Management Personnel, which represents senior analysts and program managers; the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; the Association of Engineers and Architects; the Association of Maintenance Supervisory Personnel, representing building maintenance superintendents and building services supervisors; and the International Union of Operating Engineers, which represents maintenance assistants, park rangers and parking and traffic control officers.
The council will hold a special meeting on either Thursday or Friday to vote on the proposal and the final budget, which will take effect in July.