What’s at stake?
These agreements mark just the first three of 11 contracts being negotiated this summer after all of the city’s union contracts expired in June 2025.
Two City of Fresno workers unions inked new deals Monday that come with 3% raises effective immediately, including for nearly 1,000 Fresno Police Department employees.
At a special meeting Monday, the Fresno City Council unanimously approved agreements with units 4 and 9 of the Fresno Police Officers Association — with the former representing officers and sergeants and the latter covering lieutenants, captains and deputy police chiefs.
The council also passed a new contract for the City of Fresno Management Employees (CFMEA) representing nearly 200 management positions, from the city’s ADA Coordinator to its Facilities Manager.
The three new multi-year contracts have a couple new provisions in common: Each comes with guaranteed 3% raises in year one and the possibility of an additional 1% raise for workers if city sales and property tax revenue exceeds a certain threshold by the end of this year.
All three also commit to a 1% raise in year two of the contract. CFMEA’s comes with a second contingency clause for year two, promising up to an additional 1% raise, again depending on tax revenues.
That contingency language stemmed from some degree of economic uncertainty for the city, according to Mayor Jerry Dyer.
“We wanted to make sure that we were not putting the city in a fiscal position,” he said, “where we were awarding additional raises without having the money to do so.”
The mayor took credit for the idea to share any increased revenue with employees “if, in fact,” he said, “we achieved a certain increase in sales tax and property tax.”
The three new contracts also each cover a two-year term. That’s a departure from what several union leaders described as a never-before-seen, puzzling scenario last year, in which the city offered single-year contracts to nearly all of its bargaining units and appeared to sync up contract expirations almost to the exact day.
Despite Monday’s progress, that leaves a lot more negotiating to do on the city’s end. These new contracts knock off just three out of the 11 that expired last month, covering thousands more city workers.
More details on the new contracts
The new agreements passed unanimously Monday without discussion from the council or members of the public.
They cover roughly 1,000 active city employees, according to estimates from city spokesperson Sontaya Rose as of Monday, including over 800 employees with Fresno PD, plus about 175 management staff across various city departments represented by CFMEA.
FPOA President Jeff La Blue told Fresnoland on Monday afternoon that securing a two-year contract was important for his members.
“Three is actually ideal,” he said of the years a contract spans, “because it is a stressful and it is a drawn out process, negotiating a wage and working condition contract with the city.
“But given the financial forecast of the city right now,” he added, “two years felt like it was most appropriate for us and the city to negotiate.”
La Blue hopes the new contract can help the department combat vacancies. As of Monday, he said, the department had over 70 vacant positions.
“We’re dedicated to our mission and protecting the public, and that’s what we’ll continue to do,” La Blue said, “and we hope that this contract will keep us marketable with the other agencies when it comes to recruiting.”
Attempts to reach CFMEA leadership weren’t immediately successful Monday afternoon.
Three down, eight to go
Eight bargaining units representing thousands of additional city employees continue to negotiate with the city over wages and benefits in the face of revenue shortfalls and belt-tightening in recent years.
The exact dollar amount set aside in this year’s budget for employee wages is not shared publicly, the mayor previously said at a news conference regarding the city’s $2.3 billion budget last month. That’s because the city doesn’t want to “disclose our hand,” Dyer said, adding that they “do set aside a sum that we feel comfortable with.”
Monday’s deals add up to over $11 million in general fund obligations, according to staff reports.
The contract for the city’s police officers, sergeants and recruits was the most costly, requiring roughly $10.2 million from the general fund over the life of the two-year contract.
The agreement for police lieutenants, captains, and deputy police chiefs will cost about $790,000 out of the general fund over two years, while CFMEA’s multiyear deal will take over $856,000.
Dyer said the new agreements passed Monday don’t necessarily spell trouble for the other units still in negotiations. He added that the said the same sales and property tax-contingent raises have been offered to each bargaining unit in this cycle of negotiations.
“What we’ve offered is what we’ve offered. That’s not going to change,” he said.
Jesse Gonzalez, president of the City of Fresno Professional Employees Association, said in an interview Monday the three new contracts don’t give him concerns about his own unit’s negotiations.
“I don’t feel any additional pressure,” he said, “and I think that things are kind of falling in line where the city expected them to.”
Dyer said he hopes to wrap up negotiations with the remaining bargaining units within the next 60 to 90 days.
“The offers are still on the table,” he said, “and the sooner that those groups sign off on the deals, the faster they’ll get their money because we’re not offering retroactive pay.”
