Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Employees of the city of Memphis, Tennessee, are celebrating much-needed wage hikes and bonuses they secured through the union they formed—a testament to the power of a union.
They are celebrating $5,000 bonuses along with pay raises of at least 5%. Workers who keep Memphis’ hospitals, schools and roads running saw this increase last month.
Employees of the city’s Solid Waste Department, who keep Memphis clean, saw pay raises ranging from 6% to 34%.
Corrections officers and deputies saw raises of 6%.
These well-deserved pay raises and bonuses are thanks to AFSCME Local 1733 members, who had been negotiating with the Memphis City Council since April and came to an agreement.
Tomorrow Bonds, a member of Local 1733’s negotiations team and a crewperson in the Memphis Public Works Department, said that she and her co-workers were not going to back down from their proposals.
“We came to the table with our proposals for the wage increases that we wanted, but the city kept turning it down,” Bonds said. “But we decided we weren’t going to take their counterproposals for less, and we wanted a fair wage.”
On June 18, Local 1733 members ratified a memorandum of understanding that they reached with the city for these pay increases and bonuses to take effect on July 1.
For Bonds, these wage increases are only the beginning. The fight for a livable wage continues.
“It’s very important to me that everybody has a livable wage, and right now, we’re still not at a livable wage,” Bonds said. “But I can see that fighting for this pay increase has opened up a path for us to get there.”