By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly Tuesday approved a three-year contract for the 65 city workers represented by the Alaska State Employees Association.
The vote was 6-0 on the contract that runs from July 1 of this year though June 30 of 2025.
The provisions include:
– creation of a 15-step wage matrix for positions in the bargaining unit. The city’s outside negotiator Kimberly Geariety said this bargaining unit hasn’t had a matrix since it was formed in 2007.
– an overall cost of wage increases and placement on the matrix plus one step equals a 7.95 percent increase, starting July 1 of this year. The nearly 8 percent cost increase includes raises and an additional holiday for Martin Luther King Jr., in line with changes in personnel policies.
– 3.5 percent matrix adjustment starting July 1, 2023.
– a 2.5 percent increase starting July 1, 2024.
The three-year impact of the contract compared to the current contract is $300,191 in additional costs to the city the first year, $442,889 the second year and $627,505 the third.
“Overall, the total maximum cost to the city will be $627,505 over the proposed three-year contract,” the negotiation team wrote in a memo to the Assembly.
The negotiated contract is within the budget for fiscal year 2023, approved in May, so no additional appropriation will be needed for this year, City Administrator John Leach said today.
The two sides came to an agreement in June 22, after three negotiation sessions, Geariety told the Assembly.
ASEA is one of four city unions whose contracts expired on June 30. The Assembly already has approved three-year contracts for the local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the International Association of Firefighters. No agreement has been reached yet with the Public Safety Employees Union, although another meeting is in the works.
In presenting the contract Tuesday, Geariety said approving a 17-grade matrix was a big step for the city. Other unions already have matrices, she said.
“The primary effort was focused on wages but in this case ASEA has not had a matrix since collective bargaining started,” Geariety said. “We never negotiated one because we couldn’t afford to do it.”
City Administrator John Leach concurred today that establishing the matrix will make negotiations smoother down the road.
“It takes a lot of ambiguity out,” he said.
In the process, each job was evaluated and placed on the scale with a wage associated with it to match market conditions. There are steps in the matrix for wage increases based on satisfactory performance, time and other negotiated terms.
The Assembly approved the contract as presented.
“It is difficult to look at some of these dollar values,” Assembly member Kevin Mosher said at the regular meeting Tuesday. “However, when you’re looking at one little number and not looking at the big picture it can give a skewed version of reality. The reality is it’s not always easy to do union negotiations. We have a good team... I have confidence they’ve done everything they can, and it appears from the information presented they’ve done everything they can to get a fair agreement.”
Mosher said he knows many people are having a hard time staying afloat in Sitka and the raises in the contract may be “hard to swallow” for some people, but that the city also needs to stay competitive and keep skilled labor.
“I believe this is the best product we could get, that gives people the raises and benefits they should get, as well as an attempt to keep costs to taxpayers as low as possible,” he said.
Christianson said added that it’s important to remember, “Employees are Sitkans too.”
“And the fact is we have to be competitive no matter what we do,” he said. “If we don’t pay our employees then we wouldn’t be able to get people. ... I appreciate the tone that’s come out of this, and the willingness for all parties to work with us, so I’ll also be voting for this.”
Assembly member Dave Miller said he has sat through many labor negotiations throughout his career, most recently as chief of the fire department and for the last year as an Assembly member.
“Over the years, I’ve seen employees of Sitka take very little pay increases because they knew times were tough and that helped the city,” he said. “In the long run it’s probably hurt us in some ways of keeping employees we needed. ... We need to pay what it costs to keep people here, and keep good people here, or we’re going to fall behind.”
He said failing to keep up with the going pay rates also costs the city because Sitka in some cases pays for the employees’ training, then loses them to other communities with more competitive wages.
“We should pay them what their worth, and pay them to keep them here, and I’m a firm believer of that,” Miller said.
