Alhambra City Employees union members picket city-sponsored event, May 1, 2022 (File Photo – ColoradoBlvd.net
ALHAMBRA, ColoradoBoulevard.net:
California State Impasse Review Panel Finds in Favor of Alhambra City Employee’s Union.
By News Desk
The Alhambra City Council will hold a public hearing and consider a vote on the Alhambra City Employees Union contract as agenda item #1 at its September 26, 2022, council meeting at 6:00 pm. The meeting is accessible in person or via Zoom, and the public may provide comments by submitting a speaker card or via Zoom.
After months of making their case to the negotiation review panel, the Alhambra City Employee’s Union received a favorable decision from the California Impasse Review Panel on the terms of their proposed contract.
The impasse under review was the City’s opposition to including CoVID-19 related Hero Pay back-pay on the contract although it was funded by the Congressional American Rescue Plan.
The state review panel approved an increased standby rate for emergency utility workers up to $50 from $25 per day and 2% wage increase for Alhambra City Employees. When approved, this will be the first wage increase in over 10 years.
Hero Pay
As the CoVID-19 pandemic unraveled in 2020 frontline health and public service employees kept working in jobs that exposed them to the virus in the work setting. The public soon came to recognize the courage and risk of those employees and elected officials called for special recompense to those workers in the form of “hero pay”.
In Alhambra, the City Council called for an ordinance to assure the efforts of public service employees would be acknowledged in the form of a $5 per hour hazard pay. The eventual Hero Pay Ordinance No. O2M21-4784 was effective May 22, 2021.
At the same time, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan to provide financial support for state and local governments to cover the costs of maintaining public services. For local governments, hero pay was funded by the federal government not from the city funds.
The City of Alhambra is in ongoing negotiations with the Alhambra City Employees Association (ACEA). To submit comments to the city council on this and other issues, email: luwan@cityofalhambra.org or call 626-570-5010.
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