Good.
Mayor John Whitmire
Houston municipal workers will get raises of 12.5 percent over three years under a tentative contract announced by the mayor and union officials Monday.
Under the proposal, all employees will receive an additional $116 per pay period, about $3,000 more a year. The contract will raise minimum pay each year and increase base wages for all eligible employees by 3.5 percent in the second and third years.
Houston Organization of Public Employees, or HOPE, represents more than 13,000 city workers in departments ranging from the 311 call center operators and library employees to Solid Waste and Public Works crews.
“This is the biggest raise we’ve ever gotten,” Sonia Rico, HOPE president, said after the news conference announcing the tentative contract.
The city did not put an overall price tag on the contract Monday, but Mayor John Whitmire said the first-year raise already is calculated into the fiscal 2025 budget.
The minimum wage for city workers will be $16.75 per hour. That will increase to $17.25 an hour in the second year of the agreement and $18 an hour in the third.
The union endorsed Whitmire for mayor last year as the “worker friendly” candidate, and Rico said she worked tirelessly to help with his campaign.
“He understands the importance of having a union, and that’s big for us,” Rico said after Monday’s news conference announcing the tentative contract.
A majority of union members and City Council must sign off on the agreement before it is enacted.
Good for them. We’ll be hearing from the Mayor soon about his magic fix for city finances. I’d be a little concerned as a non-police or fire employee that the budget cuts he keeps talking about will mean layoffs and hiring freezes and the like. We’ll know in a few weeks. The Chron has more.
I anxiously await the magic wand that will conjure up all those dollars to pay for everything.
M, hizzoner is a little busy right now, he has fully landed hisself in the shit by trying to get pedestrian upgrades for an intersection near his house while denying such projects to the rest of the city. This intersection has *reduced lanes*, which for some reason he has not condemned. This is a great and hilarious fuckup which no one will let him forget—
https://abc13.com/post/houston-mayor-john-whitmire-pushes-upgrades-westcott-blossom-street-intersection-memorial-park-home/15345763/