While city government is in the midst of contract negotiations with three municipal unions and is preparing to begin negotiations with another three, the city’s Office of Labor Relations is down a senior attorney — and not one application has come through in the two months the position has been open.
According to the office’s director, that might be because the position doesn’t pay well enough.
City Labor Relations Director Wendella Ault-Battey detailed that staffing vacancy to alders at Tuesday night’s Finance Committee meeting, as one of many department heads presenting on their portion of Mayor Justin Elicker’s proposed $733.3 million general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2026-27 (FY27), which begins July 1.
Ault-Battey heads the Office of Labor Relations, which represents the city in all things labor that might come before a court or agency, negotiates the city’s collective bargaining agreements with municipal unions, and handles grievances and arbitration.
There are 13 bargaining units that cover nearly 5,000 city employees, including teachers.
Elicker’s proposed budget for the Office of Labor Relations is almost entirely flat from the current fiscal year’s Board of Alders-approved budget, besides a $5,455 increase in salaries that Ault-Battey said is consistent with general wage increases. The office is asking for a total of $767,064 for the upcoming fiscal year.
There are, however, two vacant, full-time positions in the Office of Labor Relations: a non-attorney Labor Relations Associate (which does not require a law degree but performs legal work) and a Senior Labor Relations Counsel position.
While the non-attorney position has seen a number of applicants and has been narrowed down to five or six applicants who will be interviewed, Ault-Battey said, there are “no bites” on the attorney job. “Not one application has come through,” she told alders.
If the senior counsel position isn’t filled, Ault-Battey will be the only attorney in the Office of Labor Relations.
That’s a problem for the department, which is in the midst of negotiations. There are three city unions with expired contracts: fire union Local 825, parks union Local 424 Unit 128, and clerical and technical workers union Local 884.
Three more unions’ contracts are set to expire at the end of June: Local 3144 management and professional workers union, nurses union Local 1303-467, and attorneys union Local 1303-464.
East Rock Alder Anna Festa asked Ault-Battey why she thinks there hasn’t been interest in the attorney role.
“It has to do with the amount of money the city is offering with the salary,” Ault-Battey said.
A job posting for the role lists the salary range as $79,023 – $138,012. The listing also requests five to seven years of “progressively responsible experience with primary responsibility for public sector labor relations.”
“How do we compare with other municipalities?” Festa asked.
Ault-Battey said that the city’s main competitor is the State of Connecticut, which is also having trouble filling positions.
“I’ve reached out to state colleagues to send me all of their unsuccessful candidates,” Ault-Battey said.
She also said that the capacity of the work happening in New Haven’s Office of Labor Relations is “quite substantial.” Other municipalities, she said, have larger staff.
“We advertise everywhere we can think to advertise,” Ault-Battey said. “Eventually I think we’ll fill the position.”
Festa asked whether it makes sense to have interns help the city in the interim.
“Labor is a niche area of the law, it’s quite unique,” Ault-Battey said. It requires experience and training that is time-consuming and takes away from limited resources. “It takes about two years to get somebody acclimated to the City of New Haven and the volume of work.”