Somerville Signs New Union Agreement With Municipal Employees

The agreement features cost-of-living increases for two previous fiscal years.

By Benjamin Pierce, Patch Staff

Oct 23, 2026 4:28 PM EDT

SOMERVILLE, MA — The city has signed a new union agreement that will increase pay and expand benefits for municipal employees.

The agreement between the City of Somerville and Unit A of the Somerville Municipal Employees Union covers fiscal years 2023 through 2025, Mayor Jake Wilson announced Friday. According to the mayor's office, the contract includes 3 percent cost-of-living increases for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, along with wage adjustments for fiscal year 2025 based on the city's wage and compensation study.

Those adjustments include a new classification system and salary scales. The agreement also provides an additional week of vacation, transitions employees to a vacation accrual system, increases bonuses recognizing employees' years of service, and makes workers eligible for the city's paid family and medical leave benefit.

"Our employees make City services possible. They deserve fair pay, good benefits, and a workplace where they feel valued," Wilson said in a statement. "I'm grateful to Unit A and our City team for the work that brought us to this signing."

The agreement follows a request from Wilson to transfer $308,504 from the city's salary contingency account to departmental personnel accounts to fund the settlement. According to the request, the funding covers staffing costs beginning Oct. 11 through the end of fiscal year 2027. The City Council's legislative record lists the request as approved and awaiting mayoral review.

The wage adjustments are part of a broader effort to update compensation across city government. Somerville launched the procurement process for a union employee wage and compensation study in December 2022. According to city officials, the study was intended to help establish comparable pay for employees performing similar work across departments.

Pay and employee retention were concerns during earlier negotiations. In a November 2023 statement, the union said its previous contract had expired in June 2022 and that employees' pay had fallen behind neighboring communities. City councilors also approved a resolution that year requesting a firm timeline for completing the study, citing vacancies and challenges retaining municipal workers.

The agreement is one of several labor contracts the city has finalized with its municipal unions. A Unit B agreement announced in January 2025 included wage adjustments based on the compensation study and expanded benefits. A separate Unit D agreement announced in January 2026 provided retroactive cost-of-living increases, an additional week of vacation, and increased longevity bonuses.

According to the mayor's office, the Unit A agreement is intended to help the city recruit and retain employees through competitive wages and benefits.