The city of Stockton pursued mediation sessions with union leaders and its creditors for more than 200 hours.

Author: Stephen Alexander – With more than 210 hours of mediation under its belt, the city of Stockton finally made the decision to head to bankruptcy last month. The talks with its unions produced some fruit as the city negotiated six agreements with nine of its unions.

The time spent in sessions with union leaders last nine full days with two additional five hour meetings. The new law from the California legislature mandates mediation before filing bankruptcy.

On Friday, the city of Stockton released several hundred pages of documents pertaining to the AB506 mediation process that happened before the city filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection on June 28, 2012. The documents showed that the process consisted of forty-seven meetings and four conference calls.

The documents showed that Stockton had most of its discussions with the labor groups and retirees. The city failed to reached tentative agreements with two of its fire unions and the Stockton Police Officers Association. However, those mediation sessions had numerous offers and counteroffers.

The six unions that reached agreements during the process will have their contracts ratified by the City Council on Tuesday, the 24th of July

Though the city has not reached tentative agreements with two of its fire unions or with the Stockton Police Officers Association, in all of those cases numerous offers and counteroffers were exchanged, the documents reveal. The tentative agreements that were reached with six of the unions are expected to be ratified by the City Council at its meeting Tuesday night.

The Association of Retired Employees of the City of Stockton also negotiated in good faith, as the group made two counteroffers to the city’s proposal. However, no agreement was finalized.

Some of the creditors of Stockton, such as Assured Guaranty, National Public Finance Guarantee Corp., Wells Fargo and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, declined to make any counter-proposals to the city’s offers.

However, two other creditors, Franklin Advisers and plaintiffs from a lawsuit against Stockton, participated in good faith and made counter-proposals during the mediation.

Share this.

Pin It

forward to a friend

Buffer