Members of the Somerville Municipal Employees Association (SMEA) and sympathetic community members recently rallied for more support for city workers. Photos courtesy of SMEA.

A statement issued by union representatives reads as follows:

Somerville residents rallied with municipal employees last week for quality public services and good jobs.  Union members and supporters stood out in in Davis Sq. with protest signs calling on Mayor Ballantyne to give city employees raises and more consideration as valuable assets to the city.

The Somerville Municipal Employees Association (SMEA) unites librarians, public works laborers, traffic officers and more.

Union members pointed out that because wages have fallen far behind that of employees in comparable positions, the city is losing many dedicated and skilled workers.  Union members have been without a wage increase for over two years. 

Organizers called on everyone to attend a rally at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 30. The mayor is expected to present her FY 2025 budget at the City Council meeting immediately afterwards the rally.

“Mayor Ballantyne is wasting our tax dollars by overpaying contractors rather than paying our city employees fair wages,” said Rand Wilson, a resident of Ward 6 and member of Somerville Stands Together. “It’s resulting in qualified city workers leaving the city because in a tight labor market they can find better jobs elsewhere.”

“When our water and sewer lines need to be fixed, Mayor Ballantyne is repeatedly choosing to contract that work out to Tim Zanelli Excavating (TZE) at a much higher cost rather than having our own skilled city employees do the work,” said Daniel Wong, a leader in Carbon Free Somerville. “Instead, we should save tax dollars and have our own municipal workers do that work.”

For more information visit: SupportSMEA.org.

— Somerville Municipal Employees Association