White collar employees who work for the City of Fresno have ended their strike, agreeing to a tentative agreement with city leaders late Tuesday night.
Fresno officials announced Wednesday that they have reached a new deal with the City of Fresno Professional Employees Association, which represents 425 workers across all city departments.
Driving the news: The union started its planned two-day strike on Tuesday and quickly earned the support of many Fresno bus drivers, who held a sympathy strike that took around one quarter of the city’s bus routes out of commission.
- The white collar employees – which included members of the police department, public works, public utilities, parks, information services and others – sought a 3% raise, while the city countered with 2% raises and a one-time 1% payment.
The big picture: While the city and union president Jesse Gonzalez did not reveal the specifics of the deal on Wednesday, they came together to announce that they were in agreement on a new deal that totals nearly $2.5 million.
- Mayor Jerry Dyer said the goal is to bring the contract before the Fresno City Council in January.
- The new contract is retroactive to January 2023 and will expire in June, with negotiations expected to start back up again in March.
- The employees will take a look at the new deal before the city reveals its details to the public.
Zoom out: This contract dispute with the city represents a larger issue for Fresno with decreasing city revenues.
- Lower revenue has resulted in the city agreeing to one-year contracts with its employees, as opposed to the three-year deals that Dyer said he prefers.
What they’re saying: Dyer said that while he does not want to make it a habit for him and other city leaders to be at the bargaining table – since there are competent people tasked with negotiating – there are times that he believes are warranted to jump in.
- “I definitely don’t want to get to the point where we get to impasse or a strike,” Dyer said. “I would much rather have an opportunity to sit down with the labor union and see if there are some areas that we can move.”
- Dyer also apologized to the citizens of Fresno for any disruptions they felt on Tuesday, particularly with the cancelled bus routes.
- Gonzalez said he is confident that the new contract proposal will meet the needs of the employees that he represents, saying it is “an acceptable offer for my people.”
