Portsmouth City Council Votes Against Collective Bargaining

The Portsmouth City Council voted 5-2 against allowing collective bargaining for city employees. In a Tuesday Council meeting, some members said that although they would like to support unionizing efforts, the high cost of implementing collective bargaining didn’t make sense.

“It was something we had all hoped would be good for the city last year when the city council passed a resolution to move forward,” Council Member Lisa Lucas-Burke said. “After hearing the information from our CFO regarding the financial cost that would be associated, I think that until we get more information and more funding to be able to carry this out it’s going to be pretty difficult for us to carry that through. My heart was there to get collective bargaining for our unions, for the departments that were interested in it, but with the information that was since provided we have to respond to that in that manner.”

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Portsmouth Fires Police Chief Greene

The City of Portsmouth fired Police Chief Angela Greene on Monday morning. In a press conference, Greene said she was fired for enforcing the law against Senator Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) and others alleged to have damaged the city’s Confederate monument in a June protest. Former City Manager Lydia Pettis-Patton had placed Greene on administrative leave at the beginning of September.

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Portsmouth NAACP Tries Again to File Charges Against Council Members Moody, Psimas

The Portsmouth Magistrate has again rebuffed Portsmouth NAACP leaders in attempts to file charges against Portsmouth council members Bill Moody and Elizabeth Psimas. NAACP branch President James Boyd and Vice President Louie Gibbs went to the magistrate on Friday to present emails that they said showed Moody and Psimas committing a misdemeanor violation of the city charter.

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