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City Workers Reach Tentative Agreement With Duluth

After a 12 hour negotiation session with a mediator, the AFSCME Local 66 negotiating committee and the City of Duluth have reached a tentative agreement.  This eleventh hour agreement came just before the city workers were about to go on strike.  The tentative agreement will now be voted on by the membership of the union.

AFSCME and the City had been locked in a tough contract fight for months.  At the heart of the dispute was wages and staffing levels. The workers were demanding that the city provide a fair wage increase, along the lines of what was recently granted police and fire department workers.  They are also calling for the growing list of unfilled vacancies to be addressed. 

The contract fight saw a series of worker actions - which included rallies and turning out folks to City Council meetings.  In recent weeks there had been a series of strike preparation meetings, and an early morning rally on Dec. 6 on the 4th floor of City Hall. A brief video of the  https://www.tiktok.com/@northwoods_socialists/video/7456826137814011167.  This rally was held at the start of the negotiating meeting that resulted in the tentative agreement.

We salute the city workers for taking a stand, and winning a better contract than the city was initially willing to offer.  It pays to stand up and fight!  We wish them the best in their deliberations on whether or not to accept the tentative agreement. 


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