SJ Leaders Decide to Not Decide on Union Cuts, Budget

The San Jose City Council voted Tuesday night to defer deciding whether to impose a 10 percent cut in wages and benefits on five city unions and to defer their vote on the budget until later this week.

After nearly three hours of deliberation and comments from representatives of the unions, the council voted 9-2 to defer making a decision until Thursday or Friday.

Councilmen Pierluigi Oliverio and Pete Constant dissented on the motion to defer the decision, which Madison Nguyen proposed to give the city and union negotiators more time to reach an agreement.

"We need to do this today," Constant said. "We've pretty much run out of time."

Councilman Ash Kalra, however, said that by postponing the decision, "We have a great opportunity to start healing... to bring everyone together."

In March, Mayor Chuck Reed asked workers to take a 10 percent cut in wages and benefits to save a significant number of jobs and services in the face of a $118 million deficit. After months of negotiating with six bargaining units, the city reached an agreement with the Association of Legal Professionals Monday night.

The council on Tuesday afternoon unanimously approved a proposal for 10 percent concessions in total compensation from the union, which represents 46 public attorneys.

The council will hold a special meeting on either Thursday or Friday to vote on the proposal and the final budget, which will take effect in July.

Contact Us