NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Norfolk City Council has voted to deny city workers’ request for collective bargaining.

The vote was 5-3 in favor of the ordinance to deny the request, with council members Andria McClellan, John “JP” Paige and Tommy Smigiel voting against that ordinance.

The original request for collective bargaining was put forth by one of the city’s two police unions, the Norfolk Chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, but the slew of speakers on Tuesday night mostly spoke on behalf of the city’s operations and general wage workers.

One of the biggest issues for most of council was the cost, specifically salary increases, that would come with collective bargaining and what that would mean for the city’s budget, Smigiel told WAVY on Monday.

However Lawrence Brown, the president of the Norfolk Professional Fire Fighters union, said collective bargaining isn’t just about extra money, but about improving safety and other working conditions for all workers in the city.

The city’s position was to recommend denial of collective bargaining at this time, and move forward with current initiatives to attract employees, including recent 5% wage increases approved in this year’s budget and expanding its employee relations committees, which serve as a liaison between the city and employees. The ordinance approved Tuesday also formally codifies the city’s current preferred employer/employee negotiations process, called “meet and confer.”

The denial from Norfolk comes two weeks after Portsmouth City Council gave approval for their workers to collectively bargain. They became the first city in Hampton Roads to do so.

This article is breaking and will be updated.