Sloan 1

Chris Sloan
Period 1
Mrs. Buescher
10/17/2014
American Government
I attended the first of two city council meeting on September 9th, 2014. The main issues on the
agenda were the Housing Element Amendments to the land use and development code, the issuance of
multifamily housing revenue bonds and the resolution to implement the city of Vacaville's final offer
regarding the wage cuts for Members of Stationary Engineers Local 39.
The main item on the agenda was the approval of a 21.5% wage cut for Local 39- a group of
city employed workers. The wage cuts were mandated in an effort to satisfy the cities necessity of
wage cuts totaling over $1.54 million amongst all the cities union workers. Talks over the issue of wage
adjustments have been going on for quite some time, with the earliest talks dating back to February
2013; however, these negotiations never came to fruition. Local 39 was the only union of workers
which had not accepted the difference in pay, as the other bargaining groups cooperated with the cities
demands well over a year ago. The reason why the figure was so high was because Local 39 had stalled
negotiations for so long, resulting in a spike in the pay cut percentage, since the city had to make up for
the delayed reception of the pay cut, which the other bargaining groups had accepted over a year prior.
This decision faced sharp criticism, attracting a hoard of people to the nights council meeting. In total,
91 members from the Public Works/Utilities bargaining unit showed up to the council meeting to
express their passionate opinions about the wage cuts. Following the meeting the members of Local 39
gathered outside city hall and organized a strike, with the first picket intending to start on September
10th at 5:30 a.m.
Based off of my experience, I believe the city council meetings are highly democratic. The city

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council meetings are a great environment for citizens to actively participate in their community, as well
as being a exceptional way for community members to take a more serious interest in the inner
workings of the city in which they reside. Not only can community members listen to the cities
rationale behind the its actions, individuals can also publicly voice their opinion to the city officials. At
this meeting alone I counted tens of people who came up and vehemently voiced their opinions against
these drastic cuts. In-fact, so many individuals came up, the public hearings regarding the wage cuts
lasted over two hours.
Overall, I think that this was a very valuable experience to go to this city council meeting and to
experience the city council meeting atmosphere first-hand. I learned a lot from this eye opening
experience. However, the number one take-home lesson for me was that the events at city council
meetings don't just deal with trivial issues, they deal with issues which have widespread effects for all
types of people, like city workers, in this case being Local 39. I also thought it was a valuable
experience to see the events leading up the the strike and the formation of the strike. I have always
wondered how these strikes came into being, and now I have some insight into their creation. If I had to
pick whether or not the city should go through with these wage cuts I would be more inclined to agree
with the. Initially, I was adamantly opposed to wage cuts for these workers who work very hard for
their money. However, after seeing that every single of the other city bargaining groups agreed to the
concessions laid out by the city, my perspective on the whole ordeal shifted. While I agree that these
effects will be devastating to these workers and their families, it is a harsh reality Local 39 will have to
face. Members of local 39 shouldn't be granted a free pass from wage cuts while all of the other city
employees have to incur large pay cuts. However, the cities hand may be forced in situation, as these
workers are an integral part of the cities operation. So,as of September 12th, the City of Vacaville and
Local 39 have agreed to mediation, going back to the negotiation table once again. The city workers of
Local 39 are going back to work for the time being as a show of good faith.