Oakland city workers file unfair labor claims

A showdown over Oakland’s spending plan took a bitter turn this week after city workers accused the city of unfair labor practices in hashing out next year’s budget.

The dispute boils down to a disagreement over the $3.2 billion budget presented by City Council President Rebecca Kaplan: The workers like that two-year budget, while Oakland officials say it assumes the city has $100 million more in revenue than it actually does.

After City Administrator Sabrina Landreth said last week that layoffs would be needed if the council passed Kaplan’s budget, workers cried foul. Two unions, SEIU 1021 and IFPTE Local 21, filed unfair labor charges Monday with the Public Employment Relations Board. They claim Oakland officials “unlawfully attempted to intimidate city workers, who are currently in contract negotiations with the city,” the unions said Tuesday in a statement.

The claims come after a budget showdown between Kaplan and Landreth, in which the city administrator said Kaplan’s budget plan contained errors, and the council president said the city’s proposal was too conservative.

The unions accused the city of resorting to intimidation as a tactic to push them into supporting Mayor Libby Schaaf ’s budget proposal — about $100 million lower than Kaplan’s — and agree to the city’s bargaining demands, according to the statement.

The unions represent more than 3,000 city workers in Oakland.

The city administrator’s office did not immediately return a request for comment. But after Kaplan released her budget proposal May 31, Landreth said it inflates revenue projections and, if adopted, could result in layoffs, a hiring freeze and a $58.7 million deficit for the city.

Rather than employing a tactic, the city was required to notify employee unions about any potential layoffs, Landreth said on June 4.

On Monday, Schaaf echoed Landreth and said the administration was concerned about Kaplan’s proposal.

“It is far more fun to spend money, it’s more popular,” Schaaf said. “But that’s not the responsible thing to do for Oakland. Oakland has spent years digging out of financial insecurity. We finally are getting some stability back. We are recovering our credit rating and we cannot compromise that progress.”

Kaplan said Wednesday that her budget would require no layoffs.

Schaaf and Landreth presented their own budget proposal in early May.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, more than 50 people, city workers and supporters, urged the council to vote for Kaplan’s proposal and reprimanded Landreth for threatening layoffs.

“Let me be clear, the administration’s actions are nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to silence city workers,” union leader Anthony Reese said in the statement. Reese, a real estate agent with the city of Oakland, is a vice president of IFPTE Local 21.

“Despite these unlawful threats, we will continue to speak up and advocate for a fair budget that invests in the services Oakland residents are demanding: affordable housing, real solutions to homelessness, and improved streets and transportation infrastructure,” he said.

Felipe Cuevas, the SEIU 1021 Oakland chapter president, said the mayor’s budget doesn’t invest enough in city departments and workers. Kaplan’s budget supports libraries, parks and offers more services for homelessness.

“My co-workers and I have been outspoken critics of Mayor Schaaf ’s proposed city budget, and we’ve made our concerns heard in budget forums in all the council districts and at (Monday’s) City Council meeting,” Cuevas said.

The City Council is required to approve a final budget by June 30.