Lexington DPW Union Members Plan Picket At Special Town Meeting

LEXINGTON, MA — Lexington's Special Town Meeting on Tuesday will feature some special guests not listed on the warrant — picketers. Members of the town's Department of Public Works union plan to picket the meeting to bring attention to ongoing contract negotiations.

The DPW union has been in contract negotiations for over a year, dating back to July 2018. Union members say they are advocating for better wages in the new contract that will allow the town to retain more workers. A Facebook event for the picket lists 27 people marked as attending and at least 46 marked as interested.

John Killoy, AFSCME member, said offering a contract with competitive wages would allow the department to keep skilled workers.

"The 2017 Lexington classification and compensation study found Lexington was 9th of 11 comparable communities in compensation for DPW workers — the town has lost a number of good employees over the last several years to other communities because of the wages," Killoy said, "They (workers) are looking to be treated with respect, the process has been very drawn out with no movement from the town. The towns stated position is to be in the 50th percentile on wages and clearly that is not the case."

Lexington Town Manager James Malloy said he could not comment on the negotiations since they were ongoing — he said the workers have the right to picket. When asked about the length of time the negotiations have taken compared to other contracts, Malloy told Patch all other town contracts were negotiated.

The picket is set to start at 5:30 p.m. and last until 8:30 p.m. There are nine articles on Lexington's Special Town Meeting warrant, including reports from boards and committees, amending the FY2020 operating budget and appropriating funds to and from stabilization funds.