San José Bargaining Update: Budget Showdown Ahead and a Call for a People-Powered San José
Bargaining between MEF-AFSCME Local 101 and the City of San José continued this week with a shorter-than-usual session in which the union advanced several additional proposals.
While this week’s meeting was brief, the next two sessions will be important moments in the process.
Next Wednesday, MEF-AFSCME Local 101 and our coalition partners in IFPTE Local 21 will meet with the City’s budget and finance team at the bargaining table. The City is expected to present its outlook on the budget and explain the claims we have been hearing about financial shortfalls.
Our unions will be ready.
We will ask tough questions and present data that challenges the priorities the City has been choosing — priorities that have included hundreds of millions of dollars for luxury upgrades at SAP Center, major sporting events, and developer subsidies while the City warns of layoffs, hiring freezes, and tens of millions in budget gaps.
The following day, Thursday, bargaining will resume as scheduled. At that session, MEF plans to present our wage proposal along with additional major economic proposals, including protections related to artificial intelligence in the workplace.
View All Bargaining Proposals: Members and the public can review the full text of all proposals exchanged so far here:
People Powered San José: Sign the Promise
San José is at a crossroads.
City leaders are warning about budget shortfalls that could lead to layoffs, hiring freezes, and cuts to services. At the same time, massive spending continues on stadium upgrades, special events, and subsidies to wealthy developers and special interests.
New technologies such as artificial intelligence are also being introduced that could reshape public services — often without workers or residents having a meaningful voice in how those changes happen.
We believe San José should be built around residents and the people who make this city work every day.
That’s why we are asking workers to sign the People Powered San José Promise.
By signing, you are calling on City leaders to:
• Invest in public services by fully staffing departments and protecting the workforce that delivers them
• Ensure responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence, with workers and residents at the table before new technologies are implemented
• Prioritize residents and public services over subsidies and giveaways to billionaires and special interests
• Respect the city workers who keep San José running every day
We need thousands of signatures to show that workers and residents expect a different set of priorities.
Sign the People Powered San José Promise
San José runs because of its residents — and the workers who serve this city every day. Together, we can build a People-Powered San José.
Press inquiries to John Tucker, Sr., Union Representative at john.tucker@ca.afscme57.org
