The City of Memphis Backtracks on Promised Wage Increases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, June 12, 2025

Memphis – This week, the City of Memphis abruptly gutted a life-changing collective bargaining agreement that was just steps away from taking effect. In a quick, unprecedented move, the Memphis City Council voted to approve a new ordinance that allows the city to rescind a previously negotiated contract with its employees. The ordinance passed without every Councilperson present, nor did it have unanimous support. The move, which would bypass a state law that prohibits reversing an agreed-upon contract, has left dedicated public service workers shocked and disheartened.

The council is now proposing just a 3% across the board wage increase, even though their own bargaining team agreed to a 10% wage increase and a $5,000 bonus. By moving to go back on their word, the council is taking money from some of the city’s lowest paid workers with many earning just $15 an hour, which a City of Memphis study found to be below the livable standard. 

“It is fundamentally wrong and disheartening that police and fire, who receive their own raises, now protest raises for $15/hour workers. The administration is using that to walk back a negotiated contract. This isn’t equity- its exclusion disguised as fairness.” said Adrian Rogers, President of Local 1733. 

AFSCME Local 1733 represents employees funded through both the General fund and the Solid Waste fund. While Solid Waste has a $345 million budget and could easily absorb the proposed increases—amounting to less than 1% of its total—the administration claimed the raises were unaffordable for General Fund workers, citing parity with the police and fire departments. However, both departments have already received separate raises and the disparity between their wages and sanitation workers’ is glaring.

Our members spoke directly to the Memphis City Council at Tuesday’s meeting, sharing how it felt to have a hard-won contract ripped from their hands, and the financial relief they were counting on, taken with it. Despite these attacks on public employees, AFSCME and Local 1733 are united in standing up for Memphis workers. We will never quit until we’ve reached true equity. Our frontline heroes deserve more than empty promises—they deserve the fair wages they’ve earned.