Monday marked the first day in which Interim Austin City Manager Jesús Garza’s return-to-office directive was implemented.
Garza, who replaced the terminated Spencer Cronk earlier this year, ordered city employees who have telecommuted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to transition back to their usual workplaces, with those in management positions reporting first.
Citing a city spokesperson, Austin NBC affiliate KXAN reported that most executives are back at municipal facilities and offices.
Garza’s memo has drawn pushback from lower-level workers, and KXAN reported that Carol Guthrie with labor union AFSCME Local 1624 told the station she hopes she and Garza come up with what she called a more data-driven policy.
“Our hope is that we will be able to collaborate with the city manager and his office and come up with a win-win situation for all of us,” Guthrie said in the report.
According to Austin Journal, the plan called for city employees in managerial positions to work Monday through Friday in person while non-executive workers have until October to transition back to the office.
At least one worker asserted that a policy authorizing Garza to order all workers to abandon remote work doesn’t exist.
Garza, in turn, said it’s important for municipal employees at all levels to work in person so the city could better address citizens’ questions and concerns.
Austin FOX affiliate KTBC reported that four days before the directive went into effect, a protest was held at city hall.
One protestor told KTBC that the demonstration wasn’t done out of defiance but “genuine concern” for the workers.
"We stand together to question the policy change, not out of defiance, but out of genuine concern for the well-being of our dedicated public servants and for the need to remain agile and adaptable as a public-facing organization," Yasmine Smith said in the report.