Update: October 29

UFCW Local 152’s counsel sent a formal information request back on September 27th requesting the Borough produce historical payroll records to support their position of moving yearly increases from January 1st of each year to each employee’s anniversary date.

To date, this letter has gone unanswered. Our initial follow-up with the Borough’s counsel on October 2nd yielded a “we are reviewing” response. We continued to follow up on October 7th and again on October 11th. We received no response from the Borough’s counsel. We followed up again on October 18th, to which the Borough’s counsel finally responded that he was waiting on his client.

We recognize that Mayor Fox continues to claim that he’s hopeful to reach a “deal,” but that hasn’t been our experience at all.

Remember: Larry Fox’s approach to contract negotiations all along has been to insist on gutting protective language and benefits from the Borough employees’ contract. Why would anyone think that’s ok?

Local 152 still awaits a response from Mayor Fox’s team in its efforts to pursue an equitable resolution for the dedicated employees of Bradley Beach.

Update: October 8

The Borough of Bradley Beach and the UFCW Local 152 Negotiating Committee have met twice with a New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission Fact-Finder on August 13 and September 6 to try and resolve our outstanding issues before a formal Fact-Finding hearing. There has been a small amount of progress, but the parties are still apart on many key issues. Local 152 has recently been made aware that Mayor Fox indicated in his latest newsletter that the Borough is waiting on the Union. This is simply more political spin from the Mayor.

On September 6, 2024, the Borough maintained its position to move yearly raises from January 1st of each year to each employee’s anniversary date stating, incorrectly, that raises were historically on the employee anniversary date. The UFCW Negotiating Committee rightly resisted this proposal. The Borough is well aware that raises have always been given on January 1st to bargaining unit employees, which is typical of most contractual increases for any public employee. Apparently, that information was not sufficient for the Mayor.

In response to the Borough’s baseless denial of the simple fact that contractual wage increases were awarded on January 1st rather than an employee’s anniversary date, Local 152’s counsel was forced to send a letter requesting that the Borough produce historic payroll records. This is a significant issue as this could ultimately reduce future yearly earnings depending on an employee’s hire date. We await a response from the Borough.

While a degree of progress has been made recently, regretfully, Mayor Fox and his team still appear to be insistent on forcing a concessionary contract on the hard-working Public Works, Clerical, and Dispatch employees of Bradley Beach. What a legacy to leave behind as Mayor Fox winds down his service to the Borough!

Update: July 24

On Wednesday, July 24, UFCW Local 152 President Daniel Ross, Jr. sent another letter to Mayor Larry Fox. Unfortunately, Mayor Fox refuses to respond to any communication from the union.

The letter reads:

“It is troubling to say the least that you have ignored my communication to you on July 15, 2024. We have continually attempted to engage the Borough in good faith negotiations for a Successor Agreement which will be mutually beneficial to both parties. The lack of response from you is both disrespectful and just poor labor relations.

We remain available to negotiate on behalf of the Borough’s hard-working and dedicated employees.”

Click here to read the letter directly.

Update: July 15

On Friday, July 12th, Mayor Fox issued a statement about the state of Borough of Bradley Beach contract negotiations in his biweekly newsletter on the Bradley Beach website. This was in response to the lawn signs and online petition launched in early July.

In the newsletter, Mayor Fox claims “budgetary/financial constraints” and the upcoming fact-finding hearing as to why he has not moved forward with negotiations. “Fact-finding” is a lengthy and costly process with the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission involving hearings, legal briefings, and financial analysis. The “Fact-finder” then issues recommendations for a new contract which is not binding on the parties. The borough is choosing to engage in this costly process at taxpayer expense rather than negotiate a fair contract with its employees.

Let it be clear that Mayor Fox could absolutely negotiate before, during, and after the fact-finding process begins in mid-August but chooses not to.

President Daniel Ross, Jr. sent a letter to Mayor Larry Fox addressing his statement:

“In response to your latest UFCW Contract Update, I find your characterization of the events that have unfolded over the last 19 months extremely misleading. On December 1, 2022, the Borough of Bradley Beach set the tone of these negotiations by presenting an 8-page document that contained extremely disrespectful proposals designed to reduce or eliminate current benefits enjoyed by dedicated and hard-working UFCW members that serve the community. It was made clear then and remains true today, this is unacceptable. Our committee only had a short list of proposals to address existing workplace issues and economic increases based off current trends and the cost of living.

Negotiations were slow and stalled because of the Borough’s refusal to withdraw proposals that would gut workplace benefits already earned by unit members. These items have previously been budgeted for by the Borough. Only after UFCW members made the stagnant negotiations public at the council meeting held on February 28, 2024, did you meet with the UFCW committee. I was present and we were prepared to negotiate a new and reasonable agreement. Unfortunately, the Borough was not willing to negotiate. You are correct that fact finding through PERC is scheduled for August 13, 2024. However, the Borough’s insistence on pursuing fact finding is just another stall tactic as it is by no means a legal impediment to negotiating a fair contract. A fact finder may only give suggestions as ultimately Borough Council must approve any agreement, hence the reason that we’ve requested Council to participate in negotiations like they have in years past.

Stop stalling and get back to the bargaining table. The UFCW committee is prepared to meet on the following dates: July 19, July 23, July 24 and July 25. Let me know what date(s) work for you.”

Yes, you read that correctly: the people who keep Bradley Beach running by dispatching emergency personnel, cleaning trash and fixing infrastructure, and caring for the city’s day-to-day needs have been working tirelessly without a contract for more than 21 months!

These employees have not had a raise since the contract expired. As the cost of basic needs has risen, their compensation remains frozen. But it gets even worse. The Mayor’s bargaining team has proposed to gut much of the current contract.