Labor union imposes a Thursday furlough

"reading to children at the Main Library"
If they are not at work who is going to open the library?

They need a new person to run their local.

SEIU PA has lost credibility by

1/ The fraudulent flyer issue

2/ The recent 25% sick out

3/ The national concern about SEIUs links to ACORN

Re establishing trust by SEIU is going to be a long hard road, this gesture re libraries, who will also be forced to go on strike, seems like the wrong move at the wrong time.

SEIU PA needs new leadership,
In contrast SEIU Stanford showed the way to have honest negotiations in the face of economic reality.

We feel this gesture by SEIU PA is too little, too late

Give it up. This is a decent effort compared their their recent faux pas'

Of course, Palo Alto isn't the only city with these problems: Web Link

SEIU - Good say home and don't ever come back.

City Manager - start hiring!

So SEIU is going to read to children at the Library?? Were they invited and by whom? I thought that anyone who works with children must by law have a background check. They just can't expect to go in there and snuggle down in the cushions and read "Mother Goose". ...or can they? I can't even volunteer in my grandchild's class without a background check and fingerprints. And yes, SEIU has lost credibility. They can join the ranks of Public Works in that category.

They are certainly not going to get my support. This recent greedy behavior by SEIU (e.g. BART)during a recession has completely turned me off to labor unions.

why cant city workers get a fair contract

Why is greedy to want to keep your health benefits your peension and yor salary

Kate, Librarians are SEIU. We work on your libraries. We love our jobs and are dedicated to what we do.

We like the Librarians also, they need to get another union or fire the current SEIU leadership, it is not working and trust is broken.

"reading to children at Main Library" This is the most amazing statement. Why on earth do we have a Children's section at the Main Library when the City just spent several Million Dollars refurbishing a whole library for the Children which is less than two block away.

Now I know our library system is fiscally out of control, that is an unbelievable waste of taxpayers money. This city continues to blow my mind!!

Sharon, How would we go about "firing" the Union? I suspect we can't just do that and I'm afraid it's a little late in the game.

"in a bid to win community support as contract negotiations with the city continue"

Really? If that's their goal, it's a stupid move. The economy is already making tax payers unhappy--is a strike by city employees who are trying to hold onto their gold-plated benefits and over-high salaries really going to help them?

Good luck!

Kate,

I regret to inform you that your argument is highly flawed. All city employees undergo fingerprinting and background checking prior to hiring. If you are under the impression that City employees are criminals, you live in the wrong city.

Additionally, the SEIU members have aleady joined the ranks of Public Works. A vast majority of SEIU members ARE IN THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARMENT.

Sharon, Sorry, I misread your statement...you said fire the leadership, which I still question.

Why do you need SEIU - you can form your own Palo Alto labor union. One to look after your own interest. I would suspect if you did the deal would be far better that what SEIU can arrange.

Start here: Web Link

Thanks, Joe, for the link but if you read down, local gov't employees are excluded from NRLB coverage. Somehow, I think getting rid of SEIU would be next to impossible.

See the link above by "nice one".

Menlo Park is also going through the same process, although later on. It seems that the early negotiations have been purposely politicized. Again it's with SEIU (and a small AFSCME workforce also).

I imagine Menlo Park will be watching how this plays out in Palo Alto.

I think Menlo Park & San Mateo Count are leading rather than following:

Web Link
Web Link
Web Link

Grand Jury Report: Summary of
Reversing the Upward Trajectory of Employee Costs
in the Cities of San Mateo County Web Link

The residents' comments on the Almanac are no more civil than Palo Alto's.

Why is it so greedy to want to keep your benefits and pensions? Because most of us taxpayers don't have pensions and our benefits have been cut EVERY YEAR along with our salaries. We can as a community no longer afford to pay for your free ride. We're struggling to make ends meet and the situation for the majority of us gets worse each year, with no one taking care of us once we retire. So, yes, I think it's greedy to say that "I don't care about the people who PAY for my unbelievably extended benefits and don't get those benefits themselves, I just want my money."

It would be easier for the SEIU to swallow PA residents complaints if PA didn't have so many wealthy residents. While I believe there is still more rental property in PA than non, & certainly not everyone is wealthy, there is an elitist attitude that permeates just about everyone & everything in Palo Alto, so it's hard to believe the residents' complaints against the unions.

In the current climate, it's hard to totally sympathize w/unions, especially if their agenda seems out of synch with today's issues. Even as the economy improves, these benefits & retirements issues are going to be more quarrelsome then in the past. While I think it's important they stick up for themselves, I do wonder why some cashier at Safeway has more job security than a non-union worker, & when that cashier gripes about small things they have to give up for a new contract to be approved, I think "Well, you still have your job & benefits, so quit your whining or go back to school to get more education & a different job!" Ha, & I'm generally pro-union.

It is hard to believe how little the residents on this site care at all about the people who provide their power, clean out their sewer drains, supply their gas,take care of their parks and streets & other community services. I really hope one day you are in our shoes. We are educated hard working people trying to win over residents that wouldn't sit at the same table as us. We really love this city and we get paid fairly to do our jobs.

The City is crying broke when we know they are not. We aren't asking for anything at all. In fact, we have offered very substantial savings and long term structural changes that the city refuses to accept. I sincerely hope that residents start to appreciate our hard work and understand the facts of what's happening. You have lost some really good people because of all of this. You have lost people that have been with this city for 30 years or more that have knowledge that others can only hope to attain. If residents hate us and the city continues to strip our contract you are going to end up with workers that are far below average and this entire community will start to lose its appeal. The caliber of workers hired here are better than those in other cities. Unfortunately, it is comments like the one's posted here that will drive them away. I hope whom ever you work hard for says to fire you all when you bend over backwards to give the best work possible.

"it's hard to believe the residents' complaints against the unions."

Much of the people here weren't handed the money we've made -- we work very hard for it. So that makes us even more angry at the SEIU for their entitlement attitude.

Bugaboo-

You're being absolutely ridiculous with that statement.

It's not as if SEIU employees are not earning their money, and that they're not working very hard for it.

"It is hard to believe how little the residents on this site care"

Care is a two way street. I make the same as a person doing the same job as SIEU does but I do not have the benifts or pension that they have. I and most of my neighbors can not afford our own houses. If SEIU would show the same care for us and pay our pensions and benifts to the same level I would care the same for them.

"It's not as if SEIU employees are not earning their money, and that they're not working very hard for it."

And they're complaining that they deserve the out-of-whack benefits they're receiving.

A lot of us can't take a $200-400 hit on our net paycheck. These contributions the city wants from us make a really big impact on what we earn. The cost of the living in the Bay Area is high and we already make below median pay. We have kids and daycare and rent.

It's sad to see the reasoning residents are using for the support of the cuts to union employees. Alot of what is being said can be summed up as "I dont make that much, so why should you?" I bet you less than half of city employees live in palo alto, simply because its too expensive. They cant even afford to live in the city they work for. I have a couple friends that work for the city, and to be honest I hope there is a long strike just to show the residents how much they need these employees. For all those who are saying cut the workers, fire them, or screw them they dont deserve it, I would like to see the same benifits given to you for 3 or 4 years and then suddenly have them cut. Yes they are good benifits, but its not like they are asking for an increase, they just want to keep what was given to them. Its easy to stand on the sidelines and call the players names, but how many of those name callers can actually get in the game?

Let 'em strike. The Public Works Director and his assistant should take their places to fill potholes. That will give those two soemthing useful to do that does not involve decimating the urban forest.

"I would like to see the same benifits given to you for 3 or 4 years and then suddenly have them cut."

That's exactly what's happening now. That's the whole point! You really have a limited understanding of the problem here.

You know it's one thing to look at this from a reasonable standpoint and argue the economics.

But what looks like is happening....some people devised an agenda to "take advantage" of the recession to further drive down the labor "market". And get rid of the unions. They have an agenda and it's obvious from some comments, despite objections, that they are hoping to make political capital off the hoped-for result. "Look what I did". And for them that will probably involve a political career past local Palo Alto as we will be left with the mess if it succeeds.

And their fellow travelers seem to be a bunch who are outright rude and disdainful of city employees and working people in general. Some of the worst humanity has to offer the world.

I hope a strike doesn't occur. It will be a big hardship on the workers. But should one do so I promise to jump in with both feet and help in any way I can.

Some suggestions for those also so inclined.

Go to any rallies. Bookmark the SEIU website and check it regularly

Web Link

If you are a high school student and want to help organize with like minded fellow students and brainstorm as to what might help.

Stanford students----there are campaigns being waged for "living wages" for campus workers. Perhaps some similar activity can be done in support of the city workers (since Stanford Univ. still considers the city to be it's fiefdom).

Remember the media really likes to beat up on Palo Alto.

If you are a high school student in Palo Alto, and believe in economic justice, protest AGAINST SEIU!!! It is a corrupt union, and it is leading its members into a box canyon. SEIU is about power, not justice.

[Portion removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]

This is an opportunity to radically change the economic structure for PA moving forward and face economic realities.

SEIU will have to go.
For the vast majority of future PA employees, SEIU has lost credibility with both voters and City employees.

Enough is enough

Anonymous, we've been around this circle. Good luck if you think that you can get Stanford students riled enough to believe that $114,000 average annual compensation needs to be protested against.

SEIU has already lost the moral high-ground with it's lies (see flyer) and workers simply taking time off because they felt like it (even before this Thursday's strike).

Lineman claimed some sort of announcement by a respected independent analyst on Tuesday. That didn't happen. [Portion removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]

You've seen the state of the city's finances. It doesn't look good. Where was it ever written into contracts that benefits couldn't go down as well as up. This sense of entitlement by SEIU is mind-blowing.

Palo Alto Employees...Tomorrow is a self imposed furlough in response to the 8-10% cuts the city has proposed. We work for a city that has defined general fund reserves, in addition to 70 frozen & funded employee positions (unfilled), & 22 million in unrestricted funds (with the city admitedly saying at least 4.9 million are comepletely unassigned), and 57 recent retirements; some of the lowest unemployment in the country; & the city still claims a "10 million deficit" will be addressed by the lowest paid employees. Got to love it.

Palo Alto employees have suffered unrelenting attacks that are unwarranted and shameful by a small percentage of the community.
And news media sponsored by reale estate developers and sales people.

In defense of employees, LaDoris Cordell, Ira Ruskin, Cindy Chavez, Paul George have all called for reasonable and truthful representation and/or negotiations with the city council and fair representation by the press.

It is shameful that a city with the assetts, low unemployment, and the demands of a citizenry... should attack the lowest paid workers...it smacks of hysterical racism and classism...led by Cheney and Bush fears and anger tasctics. It is based in the same fear and anger tactics that spawned anti semitism and racism.
Will we rise above this or continue to sink to such lows?

That last post says it all in a nutshell, thanks for summing it up. Basically the argument is that "you have money; therefore, give it to us."

I appreciate the job done by PA city employees. But like everyone else, they should get what the market dictates. I've taken pay cuts in my career; many others too. It is life. If you think there is a better economic opportunity elsewhere, you go find it; that may be what your employer wants anyway.

There seems little question that city salaries and especially benefits are out of whack, unsustainable, and should be cut. Shame on the city for letting them get so out of hand in the first place. The only issue is whether the union fans the flames of ill will as part of the negotiation. Looks like they will. Too bad, but I expect the harsh economic reality of our city's finances will stiffen the backbone of our leadership, and the cuts will happen regardless.

I dug ditches over a summer, I have been a janitor, I have mixed cement, I have worked in a mill; I have had my share of "dirty" jobs. I have no idea how I would shape cement to form a curb, put a telephone pole in, turn on the water, fix the sewer. As our public works becomes more technically demanding its understandable that some jobs have changed adding more needed skills, hours of training, certifications and even degrees. To help me further understand and bring this discussion to the open it would be nice to see a list of the city's employees titles, job descriptions, pay, benefits, pension/retirement, etc.

Can anyone point me to this information? This kind of list would be nice, given I feel public servants serve the public and thus residents are the true owner of this government's business. Understand, I respect privacy, but my boss know what I make.

"It is shameful that a city with the assetts, low unemployment, and the demands of a citizenry... should attack the lowest paid workers...it smacks of hysterical racism and classism...led by Cheney and Bush fears and anger tasctics. It is based in the same fear and anger tactics that spawned anti semitism and racism."

That's just great Lynn. This is exactly why we are not getting the support we need from the community. It is unfortunate that we have leadership that is fighting with their emotions rather than with their heads. When we have leadership who does not communicate with their SEUI members and lies to us and the media, you make us ALL look bad.
Throwing out words like, anti-semitism and racism is going way over the line.
I hope that not everyone out there thinks that all of us members support the way our leadership is running. And it's unfortunately that we are forced to be apart of this union when we take our positions of employment.
We would work better as a Union if our stewards were better communicative with the employees, if Adolfo stopped acting like a lawyer or politican and just answer our questions and concerns. He says he attended law school, but he doesn't use his skills wisely. We still have no idea if we will be punished if we don't come to work, why we were told it's a strike from Adolfo, but the stewards call it a furlough day, and the "community service" should not be called that if you are going to stand at the entrances of our works place to convince us not to come in; we were even told that "things might get heated." Have you all forgotten we have to return back to work tomorrow and work together?
There has to be much more communication. For those of us who came to work today it's because during this whole "thing" we have lost what the truth really is.

I think the post by “Unfortunately" speaks directly to the heart of the SEIU leadership! I have personally talked to SEIU members who had no idea what the hell was going on.

Now one thing I must say since I have the floor. I hear people complain about the Managers pay at the city. Well as a member of the management and professionals group "who does not get paid overtime" I earn every penny of my pay. I am often working evenings and weekends. Why? Because the still needs to be done even if it is after 5:30. I can't just leave it. If we don't do what we do then a good portion of the City would suffer. Here is an interesting thought, let’s see what would happen if all of the M and P employees called

There are picketers outside the Palo Alto Utilities Yard. SEIU claims Thursday is a furlough. Since when did a furlough involve picketing.

More SEIU lies-
That's exactly what I said; completely agree with you. So much for community service huh?
So, how do you think we feel? We were told by our union that today is a strike, but they (SEIU) told the media & the city it was a furlough day when there is no such thing at the city.
We are getting lied to just as much as as the city and community is. This is not who I want representing us and I know I am not alone in this view.

Let's see--

205.5 employees showed up for work.

99 of them are under court order to work.

Real "no--show" rate is 78.5.

Hmmm.