08/26/2026
The city loves to point to our benefits package to excuse our base wages. But benefits don't pay the all of the bills, and they certainly don't close the gap when starting pay for identical positions in nearby towns like Chelsea is nearly 28% higher.
We have afscme workers that have to work second and third jobs just to make ends meet. We have career AFSCME workers making less than half of what their direct managers make. Some people might argue that it’s not the union’s business to fix these systemic pay issues, but our struggling members and their families wholeheartedly disagree. In a city that prides itself on progressive values and data-driven policy, we shouldn't have to push this hard just for a reasonable market correction.
Anyone calling us greedy or unrealistic - while having zero insight into our data-backed proposals or the economic hardships our members face - is genuinely out of touch with reality.
Only 17% of the members of Ann Arbor's biggest city workers union live in the city, according to AFSCME Local 369, which is now in mediation with the city for a labor contract dispute over wages and benefits.
