Our voices have been heard BUT very few parts of cherished programs are going to be taken off the chopping block tonight from the $4.5m that the City's finance director “found” from various sources.
The large bulk of the destructive program cuts and layoffs are STILL happening, with ways to save jobs through furloughs remaining still COMPLETELY unexplored. The City labor negotiators have made it clear that they are “not interested” in evaluating furlough proposals.
The majority of people being laid off are front line employees -- not the high-paid Managers making the decisions, they have saved themselves.
For a world-renown City that prides itself on being open-minded and progressive the City Staff nor our City Council are looking at all the options available to keep much needed programs and services operating, READ this: https://thehealthycitylocal.com/
City Council and the Mayor McKeown have repeatedly stated and given clear direction to City Staff (negotiators) to evaluate furlough proposals (aka pay cuts) to keep programs, services and employees working -- but this has NOT been done!
The employee groups have also made it known and the bargaining table that they are OPEN to the concept of furloughs and SHARED SACRIFICE but these options have NOT been explored.
WE NEED YOU to CONTACT the City Council TODAY by 2pm deadline (councilmtgitems@smgov.net, council.mailbox@smgov.net).
Copy and paste this petition into written comments today, or share your own thoughts.
Also speak TONIGHT re Item 1D (call in at 5:25pm) AND item 8A (call in after they come back from closed session) -- the number to call is (310) 458-8423.
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Agenda - Tuesday, May 26, 2020
City Clerk Instructions for Public Comment:"In lieu of attending the meeting, the public is strongly encouraged to submit their written correspondence and written public comment on agenda items via email to councilmtgitems@smgov.net. Written public comment submitted before 2:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting will be available for online viewing. Additionally, public comment can be made by phone at (310) 458-8423. Remarks from the public are limited to a total of 6 minutes per City Council meeting, with a maximum of 2 minutes per agenda item; under some circumstances, Council may change the maximum to 1 minute per agenda item. Except for the author of the request, public comment on 12 items are limited to 1 minute.""