Members of Chattanooga’s city labor union endorsed Mayor Tim Kelly’s first budget Tuesday, celebrating his plan to increase employee pay.
Members of the local chapter of Service Employees International Union gathered ahead of Tuesday’s city council meeting to rally behind Kelly’s proposed budget, which will be voted on by the council in September.
“There’s a lot of changes that have happened in Chattanooga since I’ve grown up and I’ve moved around and come back. And a lot of what’s changed and grown has been inequality and other issues that we need to see be addressed in the city,” said John Patrick Cate, a steward for the SEIU, ahead of the meeting. “And where it starts right now is in the city itself, where we can start to fix those things for the people who make the city work.”
Since 2012, SEIU has been fighting nationally and in localities to have the minimum wage raised to $15 per hour. In Chattanooga, members of the local chapter have gathered to promote the “fight for 15” at council meetings across several budget years.
In his first proposed budget, Kelly, who was endorsed by the SEIU during his campaign earlier this year, includes $30 million in additional anticipated property tax revenue to benefit employee pay across the city.