Local union makes endorsement for Columbia mayor and Third Ward council member
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
LiUNA Local 955, a Mid-Missouri construction workers and public employees union, announced it is endorsing incumbent Barbara Buffaloe for mayor for the City of Columbia and Jacque Sample for the Third Ward in the April 8 municipal election.
The union hosted a candidate forum on Saturday for candidates running for city council in the Third Ward, Fourth Ward and mayor for the City of Columbia. The forum was the first of the election cycle and addressed crucial topics for union members.
“Our members have a lot of hard questions to ask current elected leadership and new
candidates,” said Union Representative for LiUNA Local 955 Andrew Hutchinson in a press release. “City
Council’s policies set our wages, benefits and working conditions. Our members need to
know how these folks plan to support the essential workers that keep this City running.”
All mayoral candidates were in attendance - incumbent Barbara Buffaloe, Blair Murphy, Tanya Heath, and write-in Lucio Bitoy IV.
Jacque Sample attended the candidate forum. She is running unopposed for 3rd Ward council member.
Both candidates for Columbia's 4th Ward were also in attendance - incumbent Nick Foster and Ron Graves.
Each candidate was given two minutes to introduce themselves, two minutes to answer each question from the union, and one minute for closing statements.
Questions were posed to the entire council by union members composed of mainly city workers.
Distribution operator Connor Boggs works to fix water main issues.
"A lot of our work is done by outside contractors every year," Boggs said. "This costs the taxpayers thousands of dollars. I mean, especially in the overtime. And this is because we can't fill our staff."
Chris Scott has fixed trash trucks in Columbia for about seven years.
"Our city spends millions every year on outsourcing fleet maintenance because we can't build our staff either," Scott said. "We believe that this money could be invested in our own workers."
"How would you decrease outsourcing and privatizing at the city," Scott said. "And how would you vote on privatized city services?"
One thing all candidates agreed on was that the City of Columbia should not stand for outsourcing and privatization.
Barbara Buffaloe talked about the shortcomings Columbia is seeing regarding solid waste removal. She said that some presentations given to the city included privatization options, but the city turned it down.
"It's about taking care of our employees," Buffaloe said. "Taking care of those who are dedicated to serving our community and making sure that they're treated with respect and dignity."
Lucio Bitoy IV said outsourcing and privatization is a "hard no." He would like to address issues of wage compression at both the entry level and senior level.
"Putting in place more robust benefit and pension packages for city employees and raising wages for city employees as well as using binding arbitration," Bitoy said.
Blair Murphy said he would not be for outsourcing and privatization. He wants to keep everything within the city. He said a key thing for him would be taking a hard look at the city's budget to try and find the funds to pay workers better.
"I think it's extremely important to keep all the dedicated city employees doing all of the work and not bringing in anyone from the outside," Murphy said.
Tanya Heath said no to outsourcing and privatization. She said she would work to see what kind of communications city workers need to hand off during shifts and what kind of training they would like to be offered for future job opportunities.
"I would like to talk to the people who work in the city and find out what else they need to have a quality experience doing their job," Heath said.
Jacque Sample said outsourcing and privatization is a no for her. She said looking at all exit interviews from former city employees could help solve possible issues causing poor staff retention.
"Is there a common theme," Sample said. "What is making them leave? Is it salary? Is it benefits? What are they saying? And then how can we fix that?"
Nick Foster said just like when this was brought up three years ago before he took his current seat on council, there is still no support for privatizing utilities or anything else relating to the city.
Pertaining to retention, he said that at the end of October 2023 there were 291 vacancies in the city. As of Saturday morning, there were 205.
"I see utilities being owned by the city and run by the city," Foster said. "That's an asset for us."
Ron Graves would say no to outsourcing and privatization. He said city staff does a great job with the many things that they maintain. He said having some sort of grade system where employees can move up in positions and salaries could help with issues related to pay and retention.
"I think one of the most important things to do with retention is having a lot of respect and treating your employees with respect," Graves said.
The next question was asked by eight-year mechanic Eddie Johnson. He said he has seen how the city manipulates the grievance process firsthand, and that the only way to get the city to play fair is through binding arbitration.
"Would you support grievance reform and binding arbitration as a final step," Johnson said. "And if so, how would you get it accomplished?"
Barbara Buffaloe said she is continuing to brainstrorm solutions. She said one of the things she has looked at is setting clear timelines and deadlines for when things are expected to be resolved that people can follow.
"How do we create this sort of transparent, almost like dashboard where you can follow along with where your complaint is in the process on both sides," Buffaloe said.
Lucio Bitoy IV he would support binding arbitration. He said though the mayor cannot unilaterally make a decision, having the "megaphone" could help him make these things a reality.
"And also to really spearhead the conversation in the community about charter change and whether or not we still want to have a city management system of government," Bitoy said.
Blair Murphy said he would ask the city manager for open discussions on this subject. He said he would also be open to having fair and open discussions on discipline.
"I would definitely be open to listening and entertaining it for sure," Murphy said.
Tanya Heath said it comes down to having face to face communication and meeting in good faith. She said when both sides understand what limitations the other is experiencing, there is opportunity for mutual agreement.
"I would meet with both sides as often as necessary until there is a satisfaction," Heath said. "Especially on the things that as an employee you were promised as far as how your job was going to function."
Jacque Sample said that when you have multiple different leaders saying the same thing, you need to listen. She said she will believe the lived experiences of the people who are actually on the front lines working these jobs.
"And I am hearing we want binding arbitration," Sample said. "We want mediation."
Nick Foster said he has noticed that many unions that he's heard from are interested in binding arbitration. He said he wants there to be fair negotiations and good faith on both sides of the conversation.
"I think it's important that we do take a long listen," Foster said.
Ron Graves said there needs to be an impartial decision maker. He said if two sides cannot come to an agreement, he doesn't think that someone that has a vested interest should be able to to make a decision for somebody else that then really doesn't have a choice.
"I would involve a long discussion with city management and the city manager and the department managers," Graves said. "I would think that we could a very long and hard discussion about bringing binding arbitration."
More pointed questions included why full time city workers are earning enough to qualify for government assistance.
Union members did not make an endorsement for the Fourth Ward council member.