City employee urges Santa Barbara council to address alleged contract breaches before closed-session labor talks

Zach Smith, a city employee in the general bargaining unit represented by SCAU Local 620, told the Santa Barbara City Council on March 3 that his unit remains "misclassified, underpaid, and overworked" and asked the council to prioritize fixing those issues before a closed-session conference with labor negotiators.

"We are not numbers on a spreadsheet like you," Smith said during his three-minute public comment, urging council members to "treat us with the respect and dignity we deserve, both in public and behind closed doors." He identified the general unit as the "lowest paid and most diverse full time labor group" and said that vacancy-holding has been used as a budget tool to the unit's detriment.

Smith told the council the consultant-led classification study presented more than a year ago contained inaccuracies and that "a 100% of median compensation has yet to be implemented for our unit." He said the practices amount to a violation of "section 70 of our MOU" and to an "unfair practice under state law," and he asked the council to address what he called a breach of contract, resolve classification issues, and include general-unit staff in work to create a sustainable organization.

The clerk read Item 1 as a "conference with labor negotiators" on the special meeting agenda, and the presiding official then adjourned to closed session. The council indicated it did not anticipate reporting out of closed session and planned to reconvene at 2:00 p.m.

The meeting record includes no public response to Smith's specific allegations during open session; the scheduled closed session is the stated forum for the labor negotiations item.

Next steps: the council moved into closed session on Item 1 and said it would reconvene at 2:00 p.m.; the public comment speaker requested that the council address alleged breaches of the MOU and classification issues in that closed session.