San Jose, CA – On a June 25, in front of the Dr. MLK Jr. Library, hundreds of union city workers gathered for a rally to continue their fight for a decent contract with the city of San Jose. The workers are organized with IFPTE Local 21 and AFSCME Local 101, also known as the Municipal Employee’s Federation (MEF).
Workers held blue picket signs reading, “San Jose first,” “Invest in people,” and “Invest in affordability.”
Alyssa Grondahl of MEF spoke about how the city has been deprioritizing its workers, saying, “While city leadership talks about deficits and the challenges of the city budget, us workers are facing astronomical gas prices, skyrocketing housing costs, rising utility bills, and increasing workloads due to vacancies, removal of vacant positions, and general understaffing. The city keeps moving ahead with large projects and asking us to do more with less.”
Grondahl continued, “We are not asking for luxury. We are asking for fair wages, safe working conditions, and a contract that recognizes the value of the people who open and close this library every day.”
Mary Morse of IFPTE Local 21 brought attention to the city’s unfair “best and final” offer for their contract and how the union still wants to negotiate. Morse stated, “We are still at the bargaining table eager to keep negotiating in good faith, but that best and final offer is take it or leave it. Do we accept that? Hell no!”
The executive director of the South Bay Labor Council, Jean Cohen, also gave words of encouragement to the rallying workers.
The union members began a picket walk as the speaker program finished, chanting, “We are the union, the mighty, mighty union” and “When workers are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”
The union members present pledged to vote yes on a strike authorization vote.
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