The City Council passed its final budget Tuesday night by a vote of 8-1 on the heels of an unexpected announcement by City Manager John Shirey that tentative agreements had been reached with three city unions. The agreements with Stationary Engineers International Union Local 39, Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 and Sacramento City Exempt Employee’s Association could reduce the city’s budget gap by nearly $8 million and prevent more than 100 layoffs. The details of the agreements have not been released, but the main issue in contention between the city and the unions is the amount of money employees contribute toward their retirement funds, and it's likely the agreement has increas

The Sacramento Public Library Authority imposed furloughs on 241 library employees Friday after six months of intense negotiations with the employees’ union broke down. Calling it their “last, best and final offer” to International Union of Operating Engineers Local 39, Library Director Rivkah Sass said in a press release Monday that the SPLA will implement 12 furlough days per year for the next two fiscal years for the library workers. “Wage reductions, furloughs and layoffs are unfortunately more the rule rather than the exception in public employment these days,” Sass said. But the union sees it as "little more than a 4 percent pay cut" – and they consider the move to implement furlo