Contracts with City of Seattle extended to 2011

WHEN THE ECONOMY started sliding downhill last year, managers at the City of Seattle approached the coalition of unions that represents most of the city’s workers. Council 2 is included in the coalition.

The managers suggested extending all the union agreements for an additional year. Instead of running to the end of 2010, they said, the contracts would run until the end of 2011. All the current contract terms — including 100 percent cost-of-living adjustments based on the consumer price index — would be retained for an additional year.

The reason: Extending the contracts would provide direction for the city in preparing its budgets over the next two years. It also would provide predictability for the employees.

In November, the coalition tentatively agreed to the extension. Since then, the individual unions have considered the proposal and ratified it.

“This was a significant event,” explains Council 2 Research Director Bill Dennis, who represents all the union’s locals in the City of Seattle (21, 21-z, 21-p and 2083). “Without this agreement, we would have had to return to the bargaining table next year when the economy might still be in dire straits.
“The City would then have been able to say, ‘We cannot afford to give you that increase in cost-of-living.’ By extending the agreement, our members retain that benefit. We will be bargaining again in mid-2011. We hope that at least there will have been some recovery by then. If not, the picture will be clearer as to where the economy is likely to go in the following years.”

Dennis explains that it is difficult to get any commitments from management on long-term agreements because of the nation’s cloudy economic future. If any discussions are held, the union might be forced to settle for something less because everyone is trying to be cautious.

“We are now saying let’s give it another year and over that time we will keep what we have. That’s pretty good.”

The extension includes medical benefits, which stay the same.
“The city could come back at any time and say they cannot afford to pay as much in medical benefits any longer, but that is much less likely to happen now that the agreement has been extended,” Dennis says.

The extension does not mean that union members will be untouched should the economy continue to go downhill, Dennis cautions. There is always the possibility that the city’s budget picture could take a turn for the worse, he says, and that the city could call for a mid-year correction that could lead to layoffs.

“City departments are all preparing for possible reductions later this year,” he says. “We are meeting now to discuss how we should deal with the impacts of that if it becomes necessary. Bargaining as a coalition gives us strength.

“Our primary mission will be to save jobs.”