MARYSVILLE – Members of Teamsters Local 763, which represents the city’s public works, parks and recreation and administrative-technical employees, have voted down a new three-year contract.
Both sides say they hope to return to the bargaining table, but no date has been set.
“It’s very disappointing,” Mary Swenson, the city’s chief administrative officer, said Friday.
The Teamsters spokesman who represents about 100 of the city’s 235 employees was unavailable for comment.
The union voted overwhelmingly not to ratify the city’s offer, Swenson said, adding she thought the vote was about 67 percent to 15 percent. She said she doesn’t think contract negotiations will end in a strike.
The contract expired Dec. 31, 2004.
The city’s offer included:
Wages: A 3 percent wage increase this year, retroactive to Jan. 1; an increase based on the Consumer Price Index, with a 2.5 percent minimum and 4.5 percent maximum, in 2006; and an increase based on 90 percent of the CPI, with a 3.5 percent minimum and a 5.5 percent maximum, in 2007.
Insurance: Currently, employees are on Plan A of the Association of Washington Cities, which pays 100 percent of the premium for employees and dependents.
Employees would either be switched to Plan B, which has slightly less coverage and higher deductibles, but the city would continue to pay 100 percent of the premium, or employees would pay the premium, $95 per month for a family of four, and the deductible would rise to $100 per person and $300 per family.
Sick leave: Employees wouldn’t be paid for the first day of sick leave unless they haven’t used any within a certain number of days and don’t have a certain balance in their sick leave bank.
“We have a huge amount of sick leave used, and we’ve been trying to look at ways to keep that under control,” Swenson said.
The contract included a bonus. Employees who use only six hours of sick leave in a year get an extra day of vacation. The proposed contract increased that to an extra day of vacation for eight hours or less of sick leave used.
About two-thirds of city employees are represented either by the Teamsters or a law firm that represents the Police Officers Association, Swenson said. Managers and some other workers are not union members.
Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 or logg@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
