Novato employees strike for higher wages

Novato’s largest group of unionized municipal employees launched an open-ended strike on Tuesday as contract negotiations drag on.

The two-year contract for Novato’s 76 general employees expired on June 30, but negotiations for a new contract began in February, said Jana Blunt, a field representative with Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which represents the employees.

Members of the group include street maintenance workers, building inspectors, parks and recreation coordinators and city planners.

“The city is implementing contingency staffing plans to reduce the impact on the community and essential services,” Novato administrators wrote in a statement. “At this time, SEIU has not informed the city how long the strike will last.”

Late Tuesday, Ian Lee, a spokesman for SEIU Local 1021, said the union members would remain on strike for a second day on Wednesday.

“We’re going to be out as long as we need to be,” Lee said.

The city’s statement on Tuesday listed a number of possible consequences from the strike. These included longer response times for administrative services and certain field operations; reduced staffing at public counters and service desks; and delays in processing permits, requests and other non-emergency inquiries.

The administrators also stated that gymnastics classes and camps will be closed through Saturday and that summer camps and athletic programs were being assessed.

The city’s contracts with the Novato Police Association and the Novato Police Managers’ Association also expired in June. Those negotiations are ongoing, but police officers are prohibited from striking in California.

Perry Siu, a recreation supervisor for Novato who participated in the strike, said many upset parents learned of the labor action when they tried to drop their children off for camp on Tuesday morning.

One of those parents, Kati Zerga, wrote in an email: “Some parents went to drop their children off at gymnastics camp and were met with locked doors and a notice that camp was cancelled. The next two weeks of summer are up in the air for us now.”

In an email sent to some parents Tuesday afternoon, city officials apologized for “any confusion during drop off this morning.”

“Unfortunately, we were not made aware in advance that many of our part-time seasonal employees — who are not members of the union and are not represented — would also choose to participate in the strike activities today,” it said.

“We love our jobs. We don’t want to go on strike,” Siu said. “But we have to hold the city of Novato accountable to the community, its employees and its fiscal commitments to public services.”

Blunt said the union and the city are at an impasse over equity increases in pay for represented employees.

“We have quite a few job classifications that are upwards of 20% behind comparable agencies,” Blunt said. “The city is unable to retain employees as a result.”

Siu said, “The units are looking for a fair wage. Fair to us means at least the median for comparable agencies, and we’ve yet to see that.”

In their statement, city administrators wrote: “With the support of Measure M, we’ve offered 11% raises over three years for all SEIU employees, with some receiving up to 24% through equity adjustments — while maintaining long-term financial sustainability.”

The city’s previous two-year contract with the general employee group provided 7% in cost-of-living adjustments for all employees and equity increases ranging from 15.19% to 0.50% for six job categories.

“Despite multiple attempts to meet with SEIU over the past month, SEIU has chosen to prematurely strike instead of lawfully continuing negotiations,” the city administrators said.

Brett Walker, a city planner participating in the strike, said Novato is refusing to bargain in good faith.

“When the city regularly comes to bargaining 45 minutes late and refuses to respond to our proposals, they’re disrespecting what should be our shared mission of supporting parks and police,” Walker said.

Walker said union employees responded to the request of city staff to help pass Measure M. He said the measure was promoted as paying for police, potholes and parks.

Walker said that because city officials have declined to offer higher pay increases, “We feel the city is backing out of their promises for Measure M monies.”

Measure M, which was passed by Novato voters in November by a 57.9% majority, increased the local sales tax from 8.5% to 9.25%. The measure included no expiration date.

In June, Novato passed its first balanced budget in years with the help of Measure M revenue, which is expected to amount to $10 million annually. In recent years, the city posted an average systemic deficit of about $3.9 million, according to Carla Carvalho-DeGraff, the city finance director.

This year’s budget earmarks about $1.2 million in Measure M revenue to help restore staffing and $1.8 million for the city’s annual paving program.

Walker said a fifth of the employees in the general employee group joined the city less than a year ago.

Samantha Hagner, a city permit technician, said she lives in Vallejo because she can’t afford housing in Marin County on her salary. Hagner said her commute takes 45 minutes on good days and 90 minutes on bad ones.

Hagner, who has worked for Novato for 18 months, said employees doing similar work earn 8% more in other jurisdictions.

“Myself and my colleagues are constantly looking for other jobs,” she said. “Even though we don’t want to leave the team we’ve created, if this keeps up, we won’t have a choice.”