City of Springfield members have been negotiating their first contract for nearly a year with SEIU Local 888. Recently they've made some progress at the bargaining table on issues such as paid and unpaid leaves and just cause rights. However, the union and management are still far apart on a fair wage system. Management asserts that the current system is fair and nothing needs to be changed. However, after months of negotiations management has not even been able to explain how a position is placed in a salary range and claims that there are no written criteria for how the salary system is structured. That doesn't seem fair to the members.