{"id":428913,"date":"2026-08-10T16:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/428913\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T16:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:42:11","slug":"san-jose-strike-vote-this-week-could-set-up-a-major-work-stoppage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/428913\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jos\u00e9 Strike Vote This Week Could Set Up a Major Work Stoppage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two city worker unions will hold a strike authorization vote as contract talks remain deadlocked. San Jos\u00e9 Mayor Matt Mahan has said the city has offered all it can afford. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kyle Wong, associate transportation specialist for the Department of Transportation, poses for a photo in San Jose on July 29, 2026. A strike by MEF and IFPTE, which collectively represent more than 3,000 workers, would be the largest municipal work stoppage in San Jos\u00e9 since 1981.\u00a0(Gina Castro for KQED)<\/p>\n

Thousands of San Jos\u00e9 municipal workers will vote this week on whether to authorize a strike, hoping to break a monthslong stalemate<\/a> in contract talks with the city.<\/p>\n

While a \u201cyes\u201d vote would not immediately launch a strike, it would give union leaders the go-ahead, moving the city closer to its largest work stoppage in 45 years. The two unions \u2014 the Municipal Employees\u2019 Federation, AFSCME Local 101 (MEF) and the City Association of Management Personnel, IFPTE Local 21 \u2014 represent workers in city libraries, parks, housing and code enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Members will begin voting Tuesday, the same day the City Council returns from summer recess, and they will continue through Friday. The vote comes after a mediation process last month failed to yield a deal.<\/p>\n

\"\"A San Jos\u00e9 City employee holds a sign reading \u201cready to strike for our services\u201d at Strike School in San Jos\u00e9 on July 29, 2026.<\/p>\n

The city has offered the two unions wage increases of 3% in each of the next three fiscal years. The unions are asking for a 4% raise in 2026-27, followed by a 4.5% increase in 2027-28 and a 5.5% hike in 2028-29.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot riding on this; we have a lot of members that are hurting and not being able to just sustain their livelihoods here within the city,\u201d said Kyle Wong, a Department of Transportation worker and IFPTE member. \u201cWe want to be able to maintain our services at the level that they are and with the institutional knowledge that is so important to us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

San Jos\u00e9 has long had one of the region\u2019s most thinly staffed municipal workforces.<\/p>\n

The unions have argued that without meaningful raises, workers will continue to leave for nearby cities.<\/p>\n

The two sides are also apart on the use of artificial intelligence in city departments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A strike by MEF and IFPTE, which collectively represent more than 3,000 workers, would be the largest municipal work stoppage in San Jos\u00e9 since 1981, when AFSCME workers struck for nine days to advocate for equal pay for female workers.<\/p>\n

\"\"San Jos\u00e9 City employees attend Strike School in San Jos\u00e9 on July 29, 2026.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Mahan was the lone vote against a contract for the two unions. The wage agreement reached at the time narrowly avoided<\/a> a work stoppage that threatened to derail summer camps, permit processing and even flights at San Jos\u00e9 Mineta International Airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether the council members will ask the city manager to increase San Jos\u00e9\u2019s offer to the unions when they meet in a closed session on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

The unions are holding the strike authorization votes at large worksites, including City Hall, the airport and the central service yard. Results are expected to be tallied Aug. 17, with a potential strike date announced afterward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last month, the unions held \u201cstrike schools\u201d at San Jos\u00e9 First United Methodist Church, across the street from City Hall. Workers chanted, cheered and received a briefing from union leaders on what a work stoppage would entail.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing this because we know, because of the way the city has behaved at the bargaining table, that we have to strike to get a deal,\u201d said Charles Allen, union representative for MEF. \u201cPainful, but we have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two city worker unions will hold a strike authorization vote as contract talks remain deadlocked. San Jos\u00e9 Mayor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-428913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}