Picketing began Monday and is scheduled through April 10, the union said. Negotiations have been under way for nearly five months.
“The city’s cable communications company has offered wage increases of less than 2 percent to union employees, and is asking for an even greater payment by employees for their health insurance costs,” Local 949 said in a statement. “Today, the union calls upon the city and its communications operation to at last bargain in good faith with the union to improve the wages of hardworking employees.”
These disputes come at a time when the City of Cross Lake has seen tremendous growth in home values. Moreover, a 2007 financial audit showed that its cable communications company was responsible for 90 percent of the city’s operating budget. The audit also showed that much of its revenue came from the operation of Crosslake Communications.
“We just want to see that the workers responsible for building the city’s budget are fairly paid for the work that they do,” said Rick Oakes, business representative with IBEW Local 949. “With the city unwilling to compensate its union employees as it does its managers, it appears that the city is trying to ride the backs of working people.”
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Picketing began Monday and is scheduled through April 10, the union said. Negotiations have been under way for nearly five months.
“The city’s cable communications company has offered wage increases of less than 2 percent to union employees, and is asking for an even greater payment by employees for their health insurance costs,” Local 949 said in a statement. “Today, the union calls upon the city and its communications operation to at last bargain in good faith with the union to improve the wages of hardworking employees.”
Non-union employees of the city and its cable communications company received wage increases of more than 3 percent and their health insurance premiums are 100 percent covered by the city, the union said. Local 949 has had difficulty getting information about the pay of non-union workers – despite the fact that this is public information – and has had difficulty scheduling bargaining sessions with the city, union officials said.
“In attempting to address the issue of rising health care costs, the union has suggested exploring other health care plans,” Local 949 said. “To date, the employer has ignored these suggestions. Instead, the city has claimed that cuts in state aid are driving its demands that union members shoulder even greater health insurance costs. The union has determined that if non-union employees were to pay the same share of their health insurance as union members currently do, the amount would be greater than the cuts the city claims it is facing.”
These disputes come at a time when the City of Cross Lake has seen tremendous growth in home values. Moreover, a 2007 financial audit showed that its cable communications company was responsible for 90 percent of the city’s operating budget. The audit also showed that much of its revenue came from the operation of Crosslake Communications.
“We just want to see that the workers responsible for building the city’s budget are fairly paid for the work that they do,” said Rick Oakes, business representative with IBEW Local 949. “With the city unwilling to compensate its union employees as it does its managers, it appears that the city is trying to ride the backs of working people.”