On Tuesday, September 9, KAPE Local 6406 filed charges against the City of Topeka , requesting that the city be “ordered to engage in good faith negotiations with KAPE on wages and all other mandatory subjects of bargaining.” KAPE attorneys delivered the formal complaint to PERB, the State of Kansas Public Employee Relations Board in Topeka, Kansas.
In support of this serious charge, City of Topeka employees and their labor allies picketed in front of the City Council meeting on Tuesday evening. The crowd, swollen to larger numbers since the first protest on August 26, registered its disapproval of the Council’s decision to freeze wages and step increases for employees in 2009 with signs that read, “City workers are voters too!” and “Can you hear us now?”
Fairness was on picketers’ minds. “It’s not right to balance the city budget on our backs,” said one Local 6406 member.
KAPE’s legal complaint, called an “unfair labor practice” or ULP, is rooted in state law which says that wages are a mandatory subject of bargaining. According to Kansas statute K.S.A. 75-4327(g), the City of Topeka must negotiate over wages in its contract sessions with the city worker’s union, KAPE Local 6406, an AFT public employees union. But at sessions since April, city representatives have postponed all discussion of wages. Finally in late August, when the City Council approved a budget with no money for city workers, the union cried foul. Said David Fish, president of Local 6406, “First the city negotiator told us it was too early to discuss wages, and then the city council told us it was too late.” Fish added, “Here’s a news flash. It’s never too late to obey the law! They have to negotiate with us.”
While marching and chanting in front of the city council chambers, festive KAPE members joined fellow union brothers and sisters from City Firefighters, Communication Workers of America members and steel workers in a hot dog roast. Topeka Public Transportation buses honked as they drove by the assembly.
Inside the council chambers, KAPE president, Lisa Ochs addressed the council saying, “We understand budget shortfalls and difficult financial times. We’re all facing those.” She argued that this shared burden makes good faith negotiation even more important. The city’s failure to bargain, she charged, “is nothing less than shameful.”
Some city council members agreed. Council members John Alcala and Sylvia Ortiz, along with Mayor Bunten, visited the sidewalk picket line. Later in the council session, Alcala expressed concern about “rock-bottom” morale among city employees. He called attention to the grit of a KAPE member who for an hour held up a sign in the back of the room which read, “You can stall our contract but you cannot shut us up!”
While KAPE awaits the decision by PERB on its unfair labor practice complaint, members and supporters are encouraged to contact their city council representatives and attend future meetings in AFT t-shirts to show disapproval of the council’s decision.
