A California town know as the “Danish capital of America” has broken out in civil war over how much city workers should get paid.

Unionized workers in Solvang have been on strike for three weeks and have refused repeated offers from officials for a negotiated pay rise.

“It’s a bit disappointing,” Solvang Mayor David Brown told the press on the afternoon of Oct. 2, according to the Santa Barbara News-Press. 

The comments came during a press conference inside the Solvang Visitors Center on Copenhagen Drive.

One union representative said the city is well aware of what city workers are willing to settle for as both sides continue to discuss their next steps.

“We’ve made it clear what the bargaining unit is willing to go back for,” Jeff Lee, a Teamsters Local 986 representative, said. “The city has failed to provide it.”

According to the city, the union said it wanted a three-year contract with 6% increases each year, tied to the cost of living.

City leaders, however, weren’t having it, arguing that the proposal would be more expensive than a previous union proposal of a 4% increase followed by two 6% increases.

The city, on the other hand, offered a 6% increase followed by a 5% increase and then 4%. The union declined the proposal. Before that, the city had offered increases of 6%, followed by 4% and 4%.

“I was hopeful that it would finally resolve the situation, but it obviously has not,” City Manager Randy Murphy said, according to the News-Press. “We remain at the table, waiting for them to return.”

Olivia Uribe-Mutal, assistant to the city administrator, said the city is still willing to negotiate new contracts. “They’ve moved the goalposts on us,” she said. “Our door is open, and we want our people back.”

The city, however, said in a press release Friday that it has offered as much as it can.

Lee, meanwhile, said the City Council needs to authorize officials to bargain further in order to reach an agreement with workers.

“At this point,” he said, according to the News-Press, “I think it’s more about playing games than anything.”

On Sept. 15, 30 workers, representing about 75% of Solvang’s municipal workforce, walked off the job. No further negotiations occurred as the business day drew to a close Friday.

City officials have said hourly wages are not the only factor in the negotiations, with medical insurance and other benefits also playing a role.

Uribe-Mutal has also said that costs associated with the labor dispute, including labor attorneys and hiring contractors, will be made available to the public.

“We’re keeping track,” she told the News-Press. “When the dust settles on this, it will be reported out.”

Lee added that it seems the city is willing to spend whatever money it deems necessary rather than pay workers what they believe they deserve.

“It’s really really getting to the point of fiscal irresponsibility,” he told the News-Press.

At the root of the disagreement are raises, according to the News-Press. Workers are upset that City Hall leaders received increases of 20% to 40%, while they haven’t.

Murphy, however, says the raises aren’t what workers have described them as. He added that they were necessary following a study by Central Valley company RGS Advisors that was commissioned by the city.

The City Council adopted the raises in June 2025 after they were recommended in the study.

“It’s never been about the money,” Murphy said Friday, according to the News-Press. “The objection is not, ‘What can we afford and what can we not afford right now?’ This about what the study said.”

The city argued that salaries for senior management positions needed to be brought in line with market rates, while rank-and-file positions did not require the same adjustments.

Officials added Friday that what they were offering workers was more than enough.