ROCK ISLAND -- More than 60 city employees picketed and shouted outside Rock Island city hall Monday for a fair contract, after nearly eight months of negotiations.

"All employees are entitled to a family life after work hours," said Dino Leone, staff representative for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31, which represents 73 Rock Island employees who work in streets, maintenance, water, sewer, refuse collection, and Sunset Marina.

The AFSCME Local 988, Chapter A, opposes a city proposal that would require certain workers to be on standby 24 hours a day, for a week at a time, in case they need to be called in to work overtime.

For decades, the city has had employees on standby for one- or two-day periods, and if they aren't called in they get two hours overtime pay. The city wants to cut that down to $25, which the union pointed out would be about 15 cents an hour over one week.

"This is a bad example for government to take on. Government should lead by example," Mr. Leone said. "This is saying, 'Your family doesn't count at all.' Only a sicko would think of a proposal like this."

"The majority of our workers have families. With this new policy, the city would basically own the employees for a minimum of seven days, 24 hours a day," said Nick Hartman, president of Local 988. "We get the feeling the city doesn't care about family values."

The employees are willing to work under the current policy, which says those contacted must report to work within an hour or face discipline, Mr. Leone said.

Public works director Bob Hawes said later Monday that the problem has been not enough employees can be reached to work in these emergency situations.

"What we want is to have guaranteed, prompt response from our workers," he said. "We're in the emergency services business. We have to have a prompt response. We're asking for a contract that does that, at a cost we can afford."

There have been 16 bargaining sessions with this AFSCME unit since January and they have used a federal mediator, Mr. Hawes said. There has been substantial progress on many issues, but there are 13 economic issues that remain to be resolved, he said.

Employees in Local 988 make an average annual salary of $47,804 and total compensation -- including health insurance and pension -- equal to $61,405 a year, Mr. Hawes said.

The union plans to repeat its picket before the Sept. 10 city council meeting, with the help of the Quad City Federation of Labor. Mr. Leone expects "a few hundred employees," which would make it one of the largest pickets in Quad-Cities history, he said.