Update, The City of Bloomington reached out to the Bloomingtonian Friday, and said the following:
“We postponed a scheduled bargaining session before the start of budget hearings for the unremarkable reason that the Administration was working until virtually the last minute on items in the budget relevant to our negotiations, including new benefits available to union members. That postponement was not a “tactic” aimed at gaining an advantage at the bargaining table.
Meeting during budget hearings is very difficult simply because of everyone’s hectic schedules during that time, and typically AFSCME bargaining has concluded after the budget is finalized. We have offered to meet with the union again starting next week, and as we have repeatedly told the union, the outcome of these negotiations is not dictated by the budget process.””
Earlier story:
Members of the AFSCME 2487 local, which represents about 150 City of Bloomington workers, rallied Tuesday afternoon outside city hall after the administration of Bloomington mayor John Hamilton refused to barter with the union about a cost of living wage increase.
AFSCME 2487 local president Bradley Rushton told the Blooomingtonian they are, “refusing to bargain with the negotiating team a cost of living increase within our union. They are intentionally putting us off until after the budget hearings are concluded. So that they can come back to the table and mandate what they are going to do with their employees wages. At that point the union members will have no other recourse but to accept it or not.”
Rushton said the mayor’s representatives canceled the last two meetings scheduled for August 1, and August 17, 2022, with minimal notice.
“We are currently in communications and trying to resolve the issues,” said Rushton.
The inflation rate in the United States for the month of June was 9.1 percent.
The Bloomingtonian has not reached out to the City of Bloomington.
