A strike is adverted in a Monroe County municipality, at least for now.

East Stroudsburg Borough Workers in the Public Works Department have taken a 100 percent strike authorization vote.

It comes after not seeing a wage increase for the past three years.

Last night borough council scheduled the in-person negotiation they were seeking.

Employees of the East Stroudsburg Public Works Department wear many hats.

East Stroudsburg Public Works Employee John Moore says, "You name it, we do it. From mowing grass, to paving roads, to painting streets to fixing signs, maintaining the levee, we do sewer and water, which most townships don’t get into."

Essentially they keep the borough running smoothly.

Moore says, "We just had a water main break yesterday. We fixed that in like record time. So we know our job, we do it well and we jump at a moments notice, and they just don’t want to pay us for it."

For the past three years, the workers have been without a wage increase. Besides dealing with inflation, we’re told their health insurance cost also went up.

Moore says, "I cleaned out my savings the first year. The second year I maxed out all my credit cards and now I’m struggling. Because now I’m struggling to make the payment on the credit card, you know with no wage increase because everything went up, from gas to insurance, to groceries, it’s crazy."

The local union submitted a complete proposal package in October and representatives say they still have yet to negotiate.

Teamsters Local 773 Business Agent Matt Weidman says, "The borough council has chosen to waste taxpayers resources by spending close to $59,000 to some bigwig law firm near Philly to prevent them from getting a contract they deserve."

That’s why they went to last night’s borough council meeting with a 100 percent strike authorization.

East Stroudsburg Borough Council Member Paul Shemansky says, "We hope that’s not necessary because we think we can reach a fair agreement sooner than later and we’re looking forward to being at the bargaining table and continue in good faith and negotiations."

We’re told East Stroudsburg Borough is presenting their complete proposal package at a scheduled in-person negotiation with state mediation on March 12th.