Rally cry Rally cry (July 22, 2005)

The City of Palo Alto's hourly workers, who currently have no benefits, rallied on Wednesday afternoon in front of City Hall, calling the city's current contract offer stingy. The offer would cost the city $300,000, and would provide the workers up to 20 hours a year in sick or vacation time, some health care coverage, a 3.5 percent salary increase and required notification of discipline, according to Assistant City Manager Emily Harrison. "We felt this was fair because they were kind of starting from zero," she said. But workers said that offer was unacceptable, since it's well below what permanent workers receive. "We're not second-class workers and we're tired of feeling like it," said Annie Bunten, an hourly pool manager. She complained the city wasn't offering priority when applying for permanent positions or "due process" to appeal terminations. The workers successfully unionized, through the Service Employees International Union Local 715, in November and have been negotiating with the city since. "That's seven months of looking across the table and looking these people in the eyes and them giving us nothing," Bunten said. A handful of anarchists attended the rally in support, as did member of the Green Party, the Raging Grannies and others. After the rally, the protestors marched down University Avenue. Prior to the rally, union organizers placed signs across the city announcing the event and calling the workers' plight a "dirty secret."

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