Salisbury residents advocate for collective bargaining at city council meeting
Salisbury, Md. – During Monday night’s city council meeting, Salisbury city officials passed several ordinances including some to direct of funds towards weather emergency preparedness for the city zoo, a budget amendment of over $8,000 to the Salisbury Fire Department, and increase to water and sewer rates by 2.5%.
The city also went through the first reading to annex a parcel of land on Shumaker Drive, something that several residents expressed concern over citing anxieties over the area becoming too dense.
However, the controversial conversation over collective bargaining continued. Many residents adamantly urged the city council to reject the proposal to end it, saying it would cripple the city’s workforce.
“Over the course of these meetings, we have heard repeated claims that the city is facing serious financial strain and we’ve heard about deficit sustainability and budget constraints,” Laura Toner said. Toner is a librarian at the Wicomico County Public Library. “But we have not heard is a clear explanation of what steps have been taken within the collective bargaining process before moving to dissolve the unions entirely.”
Brandon Records, the president of Salisbury Local 4246 Fire Fighters, said city employees and public safety officials are leaving after the proposal to remove collective bargaining was announced.
“You ask all the time for people to show up to meetings and have the voices be heard. You guys are not voting on the will of the people. Not one person is still here and spoke in support of this legislation. I urge you to reconsider,” Records testified.
Last month, Mayor Randy Taylor proposed removing collective bargaining over budgetary concerns, something he says is unavoidable.
“I’m a believer. I am a believer of public safety, you know, but I got to live by the calculator and it’s got — it’s lit up it’s telling me what it is,” Taylor said.
The next city council meeting will be on Tuesday, May 26 at 6 p.m.
