San Diego City Firefighters take pay and benefit cuts

City Reaches Agreement With Three Employee Unions
Impasse Declared With Police And Maintenance Union Workers

SAN DIEGO -- Three of the five unions representing San Diego city employees agreed Tuesday to pay and benefit cuts while the City Council imposed contracts on the other two unions.

The San Diego Municipal Employees Association, San Diego City Firefighters Local 145 and the Deputy City Attorneys Association reached the tentative agreements, which need to be ratified by their members.

Contracts were imposed on the Police Officers Association and AFSCME Local 127, which represents the city government's blue collar workers.

The city was seeking pay and benefit cuts in an effort to avoid layoffs and close a $60 million budget shortfall in the budget for the coming fiscal year, an aide to Mayor Jerry Sanders said.
The firefighters union agreed to about $5.8 million in pay and benefit cuts, according to city negotiations.

Specifics of the contracts with the other four unions were immediately known.

A marathon City Council hearing which ultimately declared an impasse with the Police Officers Association and AFSCME Local 127 municipal unions ended after 10 p.m.
Sanders has asked the city's approximately 10,500 employees to accept a 6 percent across-the-board cut to pay and benefits.

To avoid having to lay off hundreds of city employees, the labor unions need to agree to cut compensation.

Earlier Tuesday, several hundred city workers rallied outside San Diego City Hall to protest a breakdown in labor negotiations.

Workers -- primarily represented by SDMEA -- marched around City Hall blowing whistles and chanting "Fair is fair" and "We work hard."

The protesters, who also included several dozen San Diego city firefighters, carried signs that read "A promise is a promise"; "I've been Jerry slandered"; "Pete Wilson promised -- Jerry Sanders taketh"; and "We already gave at the bargaining table."

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