Possible Yuba City Employees' Strike Could Cut Off Essential Services
YUBA CITY (CBS13) — Dozens of Yuba City employees could potentially go on strike, cutting off essential services, though the union says so far that's not going to happen.
Members of Public Employees Union Local 1 in Yuba City met on Thursday night to discuss a possible strike.
"We don't want to impact the public or create such a disservice that they become upset quite frankly," said Gary Stucky.
But they do want to rattle city leaders.
Contract negotiations with the city have been going on for more than a year. For the past few years, city workers have accepted a 10 percent furlough. The city wants to get rid of that if employees pick up 8 percent of the payments to their retirement system.
Union officials argue that's not fair.
The negotiations affect only 80 to 100 workers, but their jobs reach everyone in town from water treatment workers to city hall support staff to maintenance crews.
"Certainly dispensing of the wastewater in the proper way back into the river is a safety issue," Stucky said.
But Mayor John Dukes says the city's coming up with a contingency plan.
"Our goal is to be able to continue to provide services without any interruption," he said.
Staff could be reallocated, and others could be brought on board to cover a possible strike.
But there's a chance it won't get to that point. As it stands now, both side agree furloughs should end, but both sides say they can't afford to pay that 8 percent into CalPERS.
"The city had been paying that. well we're at a point where we can't continue to do that financially and stay solvent," Dukes said.
If union members do vote to strike, a spokesperson says that likely won't happen for another few weeks.