Menino: 'Steady progress' made in union negotiations

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said today that the city was in "serious negotiations" with several unions about accepting a one-year wage freeze and the talks may run past Sunday's deadline.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino

"We are making steady progress and I am very hopefully that we will announce a breakthrough in the very near future," Menino said today in a telephone interview.

The mayor declined to name the specific unions involved in the talks or say how many. Eight of the city's 44 unions have at least tentatively agreed to delay pay raises for a year, representing roughly 2,000 of Boston's 19,000 unionized employees. Menino said last week that if more do not agree to the wage freeze, as many as 700 city workers may have to be laid off, including 100 teachers.

The city is grappling with a $131 million budget deficit for next year, and the mayor has called for "shared sacrifice" and wage freezes to help close the gap. Menino and his Cabinet took a voluntary 3 percent pay cut, and the mayor asked unions to freeze their wages for $55 million in savings to "minimize layoffs."

The five unions that have agreed to the wage freeze are the Boston Superior Officers Federation; Boston School Police Patrolmen’s Association; the union representing emergency medical services; Public Health Nurses Local 1199; and the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers SEIU Local 3, which represents employees with the Public Health Commission.

Three additional unions have tentatively agreed to the wage freeze: the union representing building security supervisors; Local 3, representing property management and construction management employees; and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

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