OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL
Oakland is headed toward a work stoppage as more than 3,000 members of the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) Local 1021 and other city unions announced they will strike on Tuesday.
SEIU Local 1021 and the Oakland city administration have been in negotiation since the early spring. In recent months, SEIU Local 1021 representatives have alleged the city has committed unfair labor practices and its overreliance on temporary workers has not only impacted its members, but by extension, lowered the quality of life in Oakland.
In September, the union created a Web site and video that blamed Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for the illegal dumping and broken promises, such as reducing library hours, among other charges..
Oakland members of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 21 also voted to honor the picket lines Tuesday, while the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers (IBEW) Local 1245 expressed solidarity with the striking unions.
Tuesday’s slate of Oakland City Council committee meetings was cancelled in anticipation of the ongoing, contentious labor talks. While the city decides whether to accept the union’s latest offer, it has asked to postpone the strike until the council meets on Wednesday when special meeting of the City Council is scheduled.
Shortly after 2 p.m., SEIU announced an offer made to the city to allow former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to mediate negotiations was denied by the administration.
The decision leaves the union with no choice other than to strike Tuesday, said Rob Szykowny, SEIU’s chief negotiator. “Oakland workers want to go to work tomorrow, but after working without a contract since June, and the City committing unfair labor practices in bargaining and towards our members at work, they are willing to strike.”
The potential one-day work stoppage will not affect Oakland’s public safety departments, but effectively everything else, including for instance, public works projects and libraries.
ebcitizen.com 
By MW:
Related to the post of 3:40PM, I believe the Oakland city employees n charge of not only fixing potholes, but also those in charge of repairing parking meters, have already been on strike for decades.
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According to the giant pothole in front of my building Oakland's been on strike for a long time.
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By MW:
It's too bad that the Bay area's politicians and highest ranking government officials do not go on strike. Just think how much better off Oakland would be if Libby Schaaf and the members of the City Council went on strike, and hopefully for a very LONG LONG LONG time.
In fact while the way it normally works is that if a group goes on strike, you then offer them more money so that they will return to work, however if the politicians went on strike, I would then offer them more money, and in fact a lot more money, if they agreed never to come back.
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