Ottawa City Hall and one of the unions representing city workers are heading to an arbitration hearing via Zoom on the 25th. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 2819 President Bob Anderson says the city’s outsourcing lawn mowing, snow plowing, and maintaining the Lincoln-Douglas fountain in Washington Park. He says there’s no reason the city employees can’t do that work.
Arbitration is expensive and the arbitrator usually decides entirely for one side. So it’s risky. Costly too. Anderson expects fees to be at least $3,000. The longer the hearing, the more it costs. The two sides split the bill.
Mayor Dan Aussem declined comment for this story. He says the city’s law firm advised him it’s an unfair labor practice to talk about the case details before the arbitrator’s decision comes out. He thinks the decision could take up to six months.