The City presented its Last, Best, Final offer to the SEIU negotiating team on October 16. On October 20, the City met with SEIU and the Union rejected the City's Last, Best, Final offer. As a result, the City declared that the parties are at impasse and requested a discussion of possible means of resolving the impasse, pursuant to the City’s Merit Rules. The parties met again on October 22 but did not agree on a way to resolve the impasse. Consequently, the City Council voted to implement the terms of the Last, Best, Final Offer on October 26.
The parties will begin negotiations again this spring for a contract beginning July 1, 2010. If the parties cannot come to agreement before July 1, the terms of the City's Last, Best Final offer will remain in effect until an agreement is reached.
Over the past few months, the City has been making concessions in its negotiations with SEIU, reducing its two year contract proposal by nearly $2 million each year. While other cities are laying off many in the workforce, Palo Alto has not. Under the terms of the Last, Best, Final offer, the City is making every effort to keep jobs, despite difficult economic conditions. ( View Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Update, CMR 349:09, 10/5/09 for more details. )
We are 4 months into the fiscal year; each week that passed without a labor agreement has cost the City $49,000.
