Fresno city staff members set to strike Tuesday morning

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Hundreds of Fresno city department supervisors, represented by the City of Fresno Professional Employees Association, or CFPEA, will head to the picket line next week.

Union members say nearly all public services will be impacted in some way just before the holidays, but city administration says a contingency plan is in place.

The CFPEA represents about 400 supervisors, including those who oversee transit, wastewater and parks.

"This will be the first time membership has gotten to the point where they feel the need to strike," said Union president Jesse Gonzalez

Many plan to strike beginning Tuesday morning in front of City Hall and other locations downtown over two significant areas of concern: pay and working conditions.

"There might be some impact to your everyday person or the regular person expecting garbage pickup," said Gonzalez.

The city presented a last, best, and final offer to the union in October.

It includes a two percent ongoing salary increase retroactive to June 17th and a one percent one-time payment based on annual base salary.

Gonzalez says members are seeking an additional one percent increase in pay, totaling three percent.

They also want a guaranteed single day off for those on-call employees 24/7.

"If they can prove they don't have the money for the one percent, they still can not answer with a legitimate reason why they're not willing to give the non-monetary proposals," said Gonzalez.

After a 6-day voting period, 77 percent of the organization's members voted to reject the final offer on December 8th.

On that same day, 75 percent of members also voted in favor of the strike.

Fresno's City Manager, Georgeanne White, responded to the vote that day in a statement that reads, "The City has made significant efforts to address CFPEA's concerns with proposals that are fair, competitive, and fiscally responsible. While we are disappointed by today's outcome, our priority remains serving the residents of Fresno and ensuring continuity of operations."

The strike is set to last three days.

Gonzalez says he hopes a resolution can be reached soon for members and city residents.

"We're not trying to hurt the public; we're not trying to hurt my members. It's a rough situation for them as well because they will be without pay for two days at Christmastime," said Gonzalez.

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