FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUBJECT: AFSCME Wisconsin Statement Seeking a Collaborative Approach to City of Madison Furloughs  

AFSCME Wisconsin Statement Seeking a Collaborative Approach to City of Madison Furloughs

AFSCME Wisconsin, in conjunction with the City of Madison Employees Association Local 6000, supports the Madison Common Council’s efforts to guarantee that Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s proposed mandatory furlough program remains a last resort. AFSCME Local 6000 reiterates that alternatives to mandatory furloughs must be prioritized by the Common Council and mayor.

City employees seek a good faith, collaborative, and voluntary approach to address furloughs, ensuring that frontline city employees and council members maintain a voice in any decision which may reduce worker pay and increase pay inequity.

As such, AFSCME Local 6000 endorses a 2021 voluntary unpaid time away program allowing employees to request time away from work without affecting benefits. To prevent significant earning loss when choosing to take time away, the unpaid time would be allocated over remaining pay periods. The voluntary program is a cooperative solution, geared towards addressing the diverse personal needs of frontline employees while mitigating the city’s fiscal concerns.

AFSCME Local 6000 Vice President Walt Jackson remarked, “we’ve always solved issues collaboratively, that’s the Madison way. The mayor says she is concerned about workers but then refuses to listen to us. The mayor says she is progressive but then uses her executive power to create a furlough program by unilateral executive order, even against the Common Council’s vocal dissent. After everything that city employees have done to keep our community running during this pandemic and always, we are asking to be heard as part of a collaborative process. We make this city happen; we demand to be part of the solution.”

For more information, please contact AFSCME Wisconsin Communications Director

Valerie Landowski ([email protected]) or (715) 347-2740 

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