This past Friday, the dedicated public employees from Keene were honored. After numerous battles with the state legislature over the collective bargaining rights, the town’s unions were honored in a special ceremony held by Mayor Kendall Lane.

You can watch the entire 10 minute prestention below or via this link

Mayor Kendall Lane presented the towns unions with this proclamation.

The Full Employee Appreciation Proclamation (PDF) can be downloaded here.

In the video you can see that John MacLean, City Manager, reiterated that employees have made sacrifices and a variety of contributions. He feels that these sacrifices and contributions are made because “employees believe in this community, believe in the City as our employer, and believe we are treated fairly.” The City’s relationships with its employees and collective bargaining units “are unique and are to celebrated and appreciated.” Employees have made “big contributions to the Monadnock United Way and are involved with civic organizations, schoolchildren, and the community at large. “Our employees also represent something important to our society––collective bargaining, which protects our society in many ways. Sometimes the negotiations process can be difficult but, at the end, we come together with an agreement that works, and the City of Keene has been well served through this system.” Even though the town of Keene has seen some tough financial times, the employee unions helped the town move forward by taking serious concessions. AFT-NH was especially honored at this event. AFT-NH represents the Keene City Employees, Keene Police Officers’ Association and Keene Police Supervisors’ Association. During the last few years during these challenging economic circumstances, the three Unions along with other city unions have worked collaboratively with the City in an effort to save jobs. Concessions made by the Unions have been in an effort to help stabilize the budget and recognize economic realities, according to Attorney Terri Donovan, Director of Field Services and Collective Bargaining at AFT-NH. “It was hard work but done in an atmosphere of mutual respect.” AFT-NH President Laura Hainey attended the ceremony and stated , “It is refreshing to see management work together with our local unions and to acknowledge how valuable collective bargaining can be to all parties involved. Collective bargaining has strengthened our middle class and is a voice for all workers.”

The New Hampshire Labor News is a group of NH Workers who believe that we need to protect ourselves against the attacks on workers. We are proud union members who are working to preserve the middle class. The NHLN talks mostly about news and politics from NH. We also talk about national issues that effect working men and women here in the Granite State.

Like this: Like Loading...