The president of AFSCME Local 771 told city council Thursday the union will accept a wage freeze, but only if it is across the board.

Friday, February 09, 2001

The president of AFSCME Local 771 told city council Thursday the union will accept a wage freeze, but only if it is across the board.

Union members initially voted not to accept the freeze, but union president Todd Davis told councilmen a re-vote was taken Thursday.

Davis told city council’s finance committee Tuesday union members did not want to accept the freeze and have the other two unions – those representing the fire and police departments -choose not to when they are up for wage re-openers in April. Also, the union questioned if council would impose the two-percent freeze on management employees.

Tordiff said Tuesday if the other two unions do not to accept the freeze in April, ASCFME members would be granted their two-percent raise and given retroactive pay back to February 1, when their raise was to have taken effect.

The finance committee called for an across-the-board wage freeze as part of a three-part plan to help the city address budget problems.