Sioux Falls has plenty of money for . . . .
l3wis The largest union representing City of Sioux Falls’ employees has rejected the tentative labor agreement, an action that hasn’t occurred in at least a decade.
Officials were notified Friday that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees voted to turn down the agreement. The union represents 450 city employees, said Maynard Magnuson, associate director of Council 59, which covers the employees and negotiates the contract.
At issue is annual raises, he said. The city offered AFSCME no annual increase in wages for the next three years, according to Magnuson. He said the parties agreed on all other points.
“The city’s not broke. They are claiming they are,” he said.
The two other city unions representing police and firefighters received 3 percent annual raises in their previously negotiated agreements.
AFSCME offered to receive less than a 3 percent increase, Magnuson said.
There is a couple of things I would like to point out, THIS IS WHY UNIONS ARE IMPORTANT. Secondly, if Non-Union employees such as department heads and Union members such as Police and Fire are getting raises, the other employees should to. While everyone would like to blame the economy and the ‘evil’ unions for this, I have often thought the biggest problem is that the city HAS TOO MANY EMPLOYEES. Stop hiring people. It doesn’t make sense for the city to continually hire new employees and consultants when they don’t have money to give raises to the current ones.
