San Jose city workers vote overwhelmingly to authorize 3-day strike
Two unions that represent nearly 4,500 San Jose city employees voted Monday to authorize a three-day strike.
The city workers represented by the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21 and the Municipal Employees' Federation-American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 101 have voted by an overwhelming 99% to authorize a strike, the unions said Monday.
"This is the poorest I have ever been in my life," said Amanda Maulding, who works for the city as a Zoo Registrar at Happy Hollow Park & Zoo.
Amanda said her city salary coupled with the high cost of housing has made it impossible for her to find an affordable apartment. She's currently living in a converted passenger van which she sometimes parks in the lot outside her work.
"It's essentially a studio apartment just crammed into this bus," she said. Amanda told KPIX she endures this nightmare scenario because working at the zoo with animals is her dream job. But she also knows its unsustainable and wants the city to pay a living wage.
"I've used up any savings I had. I've used up all the credit I had. If somethings happens to my bus or to myself, I have no cushion," she said.
The unions say workers are demanding higher pay and relief from understaffing issues. Workers from the city have said that many people who work for San Jose end up leaving for another job at a city with higher pay.
The city and the unions have been negotiating for months and the workers have been working without a contract since it expired in late June.
The decision to strike came after a vote held by the union last week and was announced Monday at a rally with city workers and representatives of MEF-AFSCME Local 101 and IFPTE Local 21 in front of San Jose City Hall.
The strike is scheduled for August 15 through August 17 and is expected to impact a wide range of city services, including youth programs, libraries, and operations at San Jose Mineta International Airport.
San Jose city officials have offered workers a five percent pay increase, but the workers want seven. That's a gap of $14 million between the two proposals.
"We have to be fair to everybody. We have to be fair to our workers who I have a lot of respect for," said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. "But we also have to be fair to our residents and taxpayers. And we have to do what's fiscally responsible overtime -- not make one-off decisions that are actually unsustainable."
Amanda is not looking forward to hitting the picket line but feels as if she has been pushed as far as she can go.
"This is definitely the worst position that I've ever been in financially and with housing. And yet it's the best position in terms of my work career," she said.
Devin Fehely contributed to this report.
