City of Solvang Workers Enter Second Week of Strike

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Drivers honked horns in support as the City of Solvang’s unionized workers stood at the picket line at Solvang Park on Monday, which marked their seventh day on strike. 

For Johnathon Flynn, the city’s Public Works supervisor, the goal is a fair raise. 

“We’re not asking for handouts, or the moon, but a fair contract, given the circumstances,” he said. 

Solvang’s unionized employees, who make up most of the city’s staff, belong to the Teamsters Local 986 Union. They work throughout the city, in water distribution, wastewater treatment, office administration, public works, and parks and recreation. All in all, they total 30 in number. 

Flynn said the public works department is boots-on-the-ground. Its workers maintain much of the physical city — pretty much everything except water and wastewater, Flynn said — from its streets to its storm drains. Last December, Flynn said, team members were called out on December 23, 24, and 25 to remove trees that had fallen in a winter storm. 

Flynn said he and his team are eager to negotiate a fair contract and get back to work, including preparing for possible future winter storms fueled by El Niño.

City management and union members began contract negotiation in April. Negotiations officially broke down in June. Union Representative Jeff Lee said the union voted down the city’s last, best, final offer, met again when it became clear the city would not offer more, and declared an impasse a few days before the city workers’ contracts expired. That “impasse” declaration paved the way for a mediator to get involved. But Lee said the City of Solvang refused a mediator or fact-finder. 

Lee said that union members met again and ratified the lowest possible offer members would accept — a 4 percent increase this year, followed by a 6 percent increase in the two consecutive years. That contract would start retroactively (and therefore cover the summer). Lee said the city rejected this offer in a closed session on September 14 and gave the union less than an hour to vote on a counter offer.

At Solvang’s City Council meeting later that evening, the council voted to impose a “last, best, final” contract offer that would provide a 6 percent cost-of-living raise the first contract year, followed by a 4 percent cost-of-living raise the following two years. The contract would not start retroactively, meaning union employees would not earn the increased rate for the past two months. Union members refused the offer. 

In discussions with the Independent and at the September 14 meeting, union members and supporters pointed to the high raises that city management positions received last December. City manager Randy Murphy addressed these raises at the September 14 meeting. He said that a commissioned wage and compensation study by Regional Government Services (RGS) found that some management positions were underpaid while hourly positions, like that of the union members, were fairly compensated. 

Murphy said that city management has encountered recruitment problems for director roles, in part because of the salary. The city’s utilities director role, for example, took more than 18 months to fill. 

“These issues were significant factors that prompted the decision to do a common class study,” he said. Murphy said the city has also committed to completing a study before the union members’ contract expired.

The Regional Government Services (RGS) study provided recommendations on how the city should compensate its employees. It calculated median wages based on salary and benefit data from 11 other cities, including other cities in the county such as Buellton, Santa Maria, and Santa Barbara, and cities farther afield such as Avalon and Pismo Beach. The study said RGS chose these cities because they were comparable in populations served, cost of living, allocated personal, operational budget, or geographical location. 

The RGS study found that some of Solvang’s positions, including the city manager position, were compensated below the market median determined from those cities. Not all positions that were found to be below market rate in compensation were management positions. The study also found that Solvang had a generous benefit package — for both unionized and non-union employees. 

“Offering anything close to what [the union] until very recently demanded is not fiscally sound and unsustainable in the long term,” he said. 

Lee said that city management misrepresented the findings of the salary study, including saying that the study found union roles were fairly compensated based on market median. 

The strike coincided with Solvang’s annual Danish Days festival. That wasn’t intentional timing on the part of the union, said union supporter Cynthia Kahn-Flynn. 

Kahn-Flynn, who is married to Flynn, said that union members marched in Saturday’s Danish Days parade in part to show the Danish Days organizers and local business owners that they stand with their community. The union members handed out fliers with a QR code that people could scan to send a letter of support to the city’s council. 

Kahn-Flynn said that she and her family respect the city and its upper management. That makes the strike challenging. Still, she said it’s important. As a mother, she said, she wants to set an example. 

“That we were brave even when it was scary, even when it was inconvenient,” Kahn-Flynn said. 

The union has seen support from local politicians. Union Representative Lee said State Treasurer Fiona Ma visited picketers in Solvang last weekend, as did a representative from State Assemblymember Gregg Hart. Closer to home, Buellton Vice Mayor Carla Mead and Lompoc Councilmember Jeremy Ball stopped by in support. 

Both the City of Solvang and Teamsters Local 986 said they are willing to negotiate. Solvang’s City Council next meets on September 28.