Mid‑management employees urge Milpitas council to fix pay inequities after 2021 concessions

Dozens of mid‑management and confidential city employees told the Milpitas City Council during public comment on Oct. 21 that they voluntarily accepted reduced pay increases during the COVID‑19 budget crisis and now face pay compression compared with other bargaining units.

Speakers representing the Mid‑Management and Confidential (Mid Con) bargaining unit described a history of concessions and requested that the council direct staff to address inequities in upcoming negotiations, including additional cost‑of‑living adjustments (COLAs), longevity pay and increased vacation accruals.

Ryan Heron, assistant business manager for LiUNA Local 792 and lead negotiator for the union, said Mid Con members gave up a COLA in 2021 at the city's request and that other units later received larger cumulative increases. He told the council Mid Con members had received about 10 percentage points less in total wage increases than other units since Feb. 2021 and said that has created disincentives to promote and retention risks.

Several Mid Con employees described personal impacts during the public‑comment period: a public‑works employee said he grew up in the community and wanted to continue serving the city but was disappointed by perceived unfairness; others cited rising Bay Area housing costs and the 2025 area median income for Santa Clara County, saying some employees now earn less than the local AMI for a single household. Michael Thomas, an economic development coordinator and Mid Con member, told the council his annual gross salary was below the Santa Clara County single‑person median and asked for a 7% increase in addition to the city's proposed 3% COLA to restore parity.

Speakers also said Mid Con employees had accepted concessions to help the city in 2021 and were now being offered the same one‑year deal other non‑safety units received, which the speakers argued would not address long‑term compaction or correct past concessions. Several said members are leaving for higher‑paying agencies. Members of the union asked the council to urge negotiators to return to the table and to consider pay restoration, longevity pay and vacation cap changes.

The council did not take an immediate vote on bargaining demands at the meeting. Mayor Carmen Montano and council members listened and asked clarifying questions during public comment. The city manager's office said it will continue to work through the formal labor‑negotiation process with the negotiators and that bargaining is ongoing.

The public comments highlighted an ongoing local government challenge in Silicon Valley: how to retain and recruit mid‑level public‑sector staff in a high‑cost labor market without unilateral changes to contract terms. The union speakers requested council direction to prioritize resolving the inequity in upcoming negotiations and offered willingness to compromise while asking the city to acknowledge past concessions by Mid Con employees.