WHEN A new mayor took office in Lynnwood two years ago, members of Local 3035, who work for the City, were hopeful that relationships between the City and the union would improve.

After all, the mayor had promised as much, saying when he was elected in 2005 that a new era had dawned in labor relations with all the city’s unions.

The undertaking was welcome news to union members, who felt that the City had taken a hostile attitude toward it in recent bargaining sessions. This belief had been reinforced when the City hired a Yakima labor negotiator whose mission appeared to be aimed solely at preventing Council 2 from obtaining a contract.

But, two years later, Council 2 is still waiting for the new deal to arrive.

Frustration at the lack of progress grew so great earlier this year that Council 2 filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against the City, receiving a preliminary decision from the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) in its favor on October 12.

The ULP charges the City with failing to make progress on an addendum that was negotiated to cover 2007. The addendum was needed to cover wages and benefits because the contract with the City expired at the end of 2006.

Council 2 agreed to the addendum and the extension of the contract after the mayor proposed that, as part of the new dispensation, all union contracts with the City be negotiated at the same time and that such contracts take effect in 2008.

Not only that, but the mayor also proposed negotiating using interest-based bargaining for the 2008 contracts. In this system each side outlines its issues rather than specific proposals and then tries to reach consensus. Council 2 has found this process to have been satisfactory in other talks and so accepted the proposal in 2007.

“An important part of the addendum was an agreement that certain wage and benefit items would be negotiated during 2007,” explains Council 2 Organizing Director Bill Keenan. “Because the year had already started, it was agreed that the agreement would be retroactive to the beginning of the year.”

Negotiations eventually began in May.

“For several bargaining sessions, it became apparent that the City had no intention whatsoever of bargaining any items for 2007 and honoring any agreement,” Keenan says. “They took the position that all of the 2007 issues that we had previously identified would have to be bargained with the 2008 contract.

“This meant that the union would stay with the details of the previous contract for all of the year.”

Trying to break the deadlock, the Local came up with several compromise proposals, even going as far as to limit the bargaining to two issues — concerning wages and benefits.

“We didn’t waste any time. We gave them our list of items on February 9, 2007,” says Keenan. “But so far we have received no response from any of our written or verbal proposals.”

Council 2 now is waiting for a date to be set for the Unfair Labor Practice hearing.

In addition, Council 2 notified the City that it no longer is in favor of interest-based bargaining. “Obviously, they are not following the procedures,” Keenan says.

In the meantime, the City and the union have agreed to continue to meet and try to resolve the issue at the bargaining table.

They know it is unlikely to be easy, says Keenan. And the Yakima labor negotiator is back at the table.