AFT-Kansas Local 6406 Topeka Employees Take To the Streets
On Tuesday, August 19th, the Topeka City Council met until 1 a.m. to debate the proposed 2009 city budget. The implications of a budget vote were serious as the KAPE City of Topeka employees’ union, AFT-Kansas Local 6406, is currently in contract negotiations over COLA and wages. As the council see-sawed back and forth during hours of discussion, observers noted how hard it was hard to track the positions of elected council members and hold them accountable.
The results of the Budget vote did not reach the public until Wednesday morning, and the news was bad: the City Council of Topeka had voted to freeze wages of city employees, undermining the AFT-Kansas employee union’s ongoing contract negotiations.
Throughout the day, the AFT-Kansas office received numerous calls from outraged city employees asking, “What can we do?” AFT-Kansas stewards fielded the same question in offices and worksites around the city.
In response to the outcry, AFT-Kansas planned an informational picket – its first in years – for the upcoming council meeting. In preparation, volunteers gathered that weekend at the AFT-Kansas office to make dozens of hand written signs with slogans that conveyed their disgust:
“Topeka works because WE work”
“Obey the law, negotiate wages”
“Give Respect to get Respect”
On Tuesday, Aug. 26, a large band of AFT Local 6406 members gathered in front of the Council chambers, seeking dialogue with City Council members as they entered for their weekly session. AFT-Kansas picketers were joined by members of the Topeka’s Fire Fighter, Police and Teamsters unions. Their message was heard, though not directly: “It told us a lot,” said Dean Diediker, a Planning Department employee and union activist, “when most of the Council chose to enter through the back door.”
Approximately 100 city employees and their supporters marched in a circle on the sidewalk in front of the building. One sign summed up the urgency of their cause: “Get serious about our contract!”
Said Joe Brooks, a AFT-Kansas steward in Traffic Operations, “We have to show the City that we are not going to stand for unfair labor practices. It’s not right that the City will fund a parking lot, but they say no to our hard earned wages.”
The stakes are high, said Danielle Music who works in the Water Treatment Facility. “Some employees are content for now, but they won’t be when they lose what so many have worked hard to get over the years.”
“I helped start the union in the 80’s,” recalled Mike Hawkins, an employee in the Engineering Department. “The contract has evolved quite a bit since then. I’d feel like my legs were being cut out from beneath me if we lost what we’ve struggled to get. Numbers give us strength. I want to see my fellow employees stand up to defend what we fought for.”
“Solidarity,” said Ted Lewis, an inspector in Transportation Operations, “is exactly what we need right now.”
The AFT-Kansas picket was covered by two TV stations and the Topeka Capital Journal.
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Visit http://kape.aft.org for more information about the union’s fight for better wages in Topeka.