Memphis, unions remain deadlocked over pay

The city of Memphis and most of its labor organizations failed to reach a compromise on pay increases Thursday, despite the police union’s warning that it will launch a publicity campaign during next week’s commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.

Almost all of the city’s 10 unions and 20 bargaining units representing city employees, including police and fire, ended negotiations without a settlement ahead of the midnight deadline, according to unions and Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration.

At 6 p.m., the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) were still in negotiations, Chief Human Resources Officer Alexandria Smith said.

The city and the unions in deadlock will enter a seven-day “cooling-off” period, after which they will officially reach an impasse. At that point, the dispute would go to the City Council, which would decide whether to approve the proposal from the administration or the labor groups — or to scrap both proposals in favor of an across-the-board pay increase, as has happened in recent years.

The cooling-off period will coincide with the city’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of King’s death in Memphis and of the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike. The sanitation workers were striking for fair and humane treatment by the city, higher pay and benefits. Reach Ryan Poe at poe@commercial appeal.com or on Twitter at @ryanpoe.