Local 302 employees call ‘sick-out’ following meeting

VICTORIA BARBER

March 20, 2008 at 9:58AM AKST

Following a union meeting at the Grand Aleutian, about 70 employees of the city of Unalaska – just over half the city’s full-time workforce – called in sick on Tuesday, March 18.

City Manager Chris Hladick said that all the employees who missed work are members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302. They work in the departments of Public Works, Public Utilities, City Hall and the Department of Parks, Culture and Recreation.

"Some of the probationary employees showed up, maybe one person at the powerhouse, one at the sewer and somebody came for the water," said Hladick.

The union had issued a press release last week that said city employees were feeling "frustrated, disrespected and insulted" by the negotiation process with the city of Unalaska, now in its ninth month.

The letter stated that "city employees are hoping to avoid a work stoppage, but are increasingly frustrated with the city’s hard-line stance in negotiations."

Carl Gamble, IUOE 302 business representative, said in an interview last week that a "stoppage" was not a strike.

"At the end of the day if you’re not getting the rates you deserve ... you may just stop working," Gamble said. "You’re hoping that if you stop working ... they’ll come around."

Employees receive three sick days a year. Hladick said that the city had contracted enough nonunion-affiliated people – including high-school students – to keep facilities open with scaled-back operations this week.

Hladick said the incident came as a surprise, as he had recently agreed to Gamble’s suggestion of bringing in a professional, third-party mediator to help the city and the union reach an agreement.

Neither Gamble nor other union representatives responded to phone calls about the collective sick day by press time.

Rising costs squeeze city, employees

At the heart of the nine-month delay is a disagreement between the city and the union over whether to raise city employee wages to reflect the rising cost-of-living.

City employees are asking for a 3 percent annual increase to be written into the three-year contract to keep pace with inflation, which in Anchorage is measured at 3.2 percent annually.

But in accordance with a 10-step wage ladder that was implemented in their previous contract, city employees who have 10 years of experience or more will receive a 1.5 percent wage increase.

Employees below Step 10 receive a 3 percent raise each time they progress to the next step, which typically happens each year unless they have unsatisfactory job performance and are fired from the city.

"As long as we keep up with inflation, everyone is happy ... it’s not a real (wage) increase unless it is over the costing of living," Gamble said. "(The city) is penalizing their long-term employees."

Hladick disagrees, saying that the union has failed to factor in the increased cost to the city for employees’ benefits package and retirement.

Hladick said that the city has been pressed by higher health insurance premiums, which increased from $1,167 per employee per month to $1,583 last May, a difference of 36 percent.

The city has also increased its contributions to the Public Employee Retirement System due to the multibillion-dollar shortfall in Alaska’s pensions system.

> In a Sept. 6 letter to The Dutch Harbor Fisherman, "City Council comments on budget, wages," City Council members indicated that, as an example, the city was absorbing a $6,157 increase for an employee that makes $50,000 per year, as fixed benefits and retirement costs have leapt by around 12 percent.

"It’s a huge increase," Hladick said. ""We had to start saving on wages, so we instituted the step system. ... We surveyed other communities and found that this is the way it is done."

Mayor Shirley Marquardt said that the city has had to balance other costs as well.

"Our benefits and insurance costs are going through the roof," Marquardt said. "There’s a decrease in the pollock quota ... and we’re building a new landfill and powerhouses and docks and trying to maintain the current levels of service that we in Unalaska.

"Things can fluctuate, but our revenues seem to be growing by 1 percent and our expenses rising by 7 percent," Marquardt said.

While the IUOE union represents about half the city’s employees, Hladick said that non-union city employees have been in a 10-step wage ladder for "as long as anyone can remember," with the same 1.5 percent raise for the most senior employees.

IUOE Local 302 members make up just over half of the 132 full-time workforce employed by the city of Unalaska, which pays them $7.5 million out of its $16 million total payroll.

Hladick, who has an individual contract with City Council, earns wage increases in accordance with inflation, 3.2 percent last year, and fluctuating from year to year. This year his increase will be 2.2 percent, and it has been as low as 1.9 percent.

While such a correlation between inflation and wage increase is what the union is asking, Hladick said that his contract and the union members’ are not comparable, in part because of the volatility of his position.

"(A union member) employee would have to have to do something very drastic and in many cases can take months to be fired. It makes it very difficult for management to fire an employee, which a protection from the employee’s point of view," Hladick said in an e-mail.

"City managers can be fired at any time for any cause," he said.

City employee Jerry Swihart is a heavy equipment operator with the Unalaska roads division. Swihart has worked for the city for 11 years, and is a Step 10 employee. Because of this he will receive a 1.5 percent less in the way of wage increase than he has before.

"A 1.5 percent increase is not enough, I don’t care who you are," Swihart said. "I won’t be able to save anything substantial, or get myself out of a bind if the furnace goes down or something. ... I’ll have to spend it all just to live."

"The way the economy is going, I don’t think that a 3 percent increase is asking too much," Swihart said. "In fact, I don’t think it’s enough."

Swihart said that he thinks that the negotiation process would be benefit by being more transparent to the public.

"The process needs to be a little more open at the City Council. ... The public and other Council members need to be more involved so that it they have concerns or issues they can talk about it," Swihart said. "I don’t think a single person has all the answers."

In the end, the decision to finalize the contract will come not from Hladick but from City Council itself.

"I work for City Council, and they tell me what to do," Hladick said. "I believe the employees do a good job and they deserve a fair wage, but the city has extensive costs, and there has to be a balance to the community."

City employees’ contracts are for a three-year period. Until a new contract is agreed on, city employees will work under their previous contract.

Victoria Barber can be reached at (907) 348-2424 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 424.