Santa Clara employees avoid strike; officials agree on $5,000 bonus

Unit 6 workers were going to go two years without a pay increase

SANTA CLARA >> A group of city workers that was on the frontlines in the early days of the pandemic narrowly has avoided a strike after the city agreed to pay the group a $5,000 bonus following stalled contract negotiations.

Members of Unit 6, which consists of Santa Clara's field operation and maintenance workers, have been deadlocked in negotiations on a new contract since last fall, according to unit President Gary Ferraris.

The unit did not receive a salary increase in the first year of the pandemic and was looking at a second year without any pay bump. The lack of wage increase follows two years of what Ferraris called “absolutely horrible” working conditions, with a slew of safety concerns including a lack of basic protective equipment in the often dusty and dirty environments they were working in.

Aside from no pay boost, Ferraris said the city wanted to add a clause to the contract that would bar the group from striking or supporting the strikes of other unions in the city.

“We either cross a picket line against our philosophical beliefs or risk being disciplined,” he said.

Unit 6 previously had voted to authorize a strike by an overwhelming majority — 94% of members. And on April 19, the group informed the city it would stop work May 1, otherwise known as May Day or Workers' Day.

But the city and the unit came to an agreement on a new contract Thursday afternoon in closeddoor negotiations. Instead of the salary raise the unit asked for, the city agreed to give the workers $5,000. The three-year contract, to run from Jan. 1, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2024, features a 5% salary increase in year two and a 4% salary increase in year three.

Ferraris said they ultimately were not offered a pay raise this year because it wasn't “feasible for the city.”

Both city spokesperson Lon Peterson and Ferraris declined to call the $5,000 sum “hero pay” — a term used for bonuses given to front-line workers during the pandemic.

Last year, Santa Clara County gave 22,000 employees hero pay. Full-time employees received $2,500 and part-time employees received a pro-rated amount. The decision was seen as controversial to some who argued that it was a misuse of American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Peterson said the final contract is expected to come back to the Santa Clara City Council for approval in May.