Solvang Strike Ends as City and Employees Reach Tentative Agreement After a Month on the Picket Line
City leaders and Teamsters Local 986 announced the deal late Wednesday. A majority of the 30 affected employees ratified it, and the City Council is expected to consider finalizing it on Oct. 26.
Solvang city leaders and union representatives announced late Wednesday a tentative agreement to end a month-long strike in which 75 percent of the city workforce walked off the job over higher wages, the Santa Barbara News-Press reported. The deal was reached during a Wednesday bargaining session, according to a joint press release issued after 9 p.m.
A majority of the 30 affected employees approved and ratified the agreement on Wednesday, the report said. The City Council was expected to consider finalizing the deal at its Oct. 26 meeting. The terms were not immediately available, and the joint statement said the city will make the details public during the council consideration.
In the joint statement, the city and the union thanked employees for their work and thanked residents, businesses and visitors for their patience during the dispute. Representatives of the city and of Teamsters Local 986, which represents the employees, could not immediately be reached for further comment, the report said.
The settlement follows months of unsuccessful negotiations before the strike and several failed rounds of bargaining during it. Represented employees walked out on Sept. 15, according to the city's Oct. 2 update. The News-Press report says the workers declared a negotiations impasse in June, and that the dispute centered on disagreement over raises after workers pointed to pay increases for senior City Hall leaders over the past two budget cycles.
The bargaining history shows how far apart the sides were two weeks ago. In its Oct. 2 update, the city said the union proposed a three-year agreement with cost-of-living increases of 6 percent in each year at the Sept. 30 session, while the city said the council moved on Oct. 1 to an offer of 6 percent, then 5 percent, then 4 percent. The union voted to reject that city offer at the time, the city said.
Whether the final agreement tracks either of those proposals will not be known until the terms are made public for the Oct. 26 council meeting.
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