Hayward city employees are coming together to reduce the budget deficit, with promises that they won’t be laid off. According to six city agreements with worker unions approved on April 21, employees are deferring their annual pay increases for a year or modifying them.
The Hayward Association of Management Employees is saving the city $465,000 on what would have been a cost-of-living adjustment, or a COLA increase. The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers would save the city $427,000 in the next fiscal year.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Clerical Unit is saving the city $594,000 over the next year. All three city worker unions are given a no layoff promise until June 30, 2027.
The Hayward Police Management Unit agreed to modify their COLA increases that start in July 2027 and 2028. The union is reducing their COLA increase to 4.5% during those years. This would save the city $60,000. The Hayward Police Officers’ Association is modifying their COLA increases and overtime pay through the fiscal year 2028-2029. This would save the city a total of $5.6 million. Two Hayward fire unions would give the city’s general fund a total of $3.3 million in COLA deferment and overtime costs.
All councilmembers thanked the workers for cooperating with the city to help close the budget gap. “We had a massive deficit,” said Councilmember George Syrop. “We really came together as a team. We heard our workers loud and clear around protecting against layoffs. I think our workers heard us loud and clear as far as the fiscal situation we found ourselves in.”
Councilmember Francisco Zermeno said they don’t thank their workers enough, and that their desire to help the city is appreciated. “Thank you to their union representatives for actually helping us out. I think wanting to have a healthy city is something very important, and we’re taking good steps towards that,” he said.
City manager Jennifer Ott also shared a few words. “We would not be able to close our structural deficit without the help and support from our labor partners and employees. I just feel a tremendous amount of gratitude for their partnership,” she said. “It was hard, and a lot of hard conversations, but I think we ended up in a really great place, so thank you.”
