Redding Maintenance Unit Ratifies Contract Extension

By Ray Thomas

The IBEW Maintenance bargaining unit at the City of Redding voted overwhelmingly on April 27 to accept the tentative agreement for a contract extension. Negotiations for the Electric bargaining unit is temporarily on hold pending a decision on an Unfair Practice Charge filed by the union in February.

Since last summer IBEW 1245 has been in difficult negotiations with the City of Redding for both our Maintenance and Electric bargaining units.

At the center point of negotiations, the City of Redding demanded two major concessions
from these IBEW 1245 units:
1. The elimination of City contributions to retiree medical benefit costs for any future hires;
and
2. 10% employee monthly co-pay on the average monthly cost of aggregate health and
welfare premium costs.
As was the IBEW’s position in 1991, our Union negotiating committee, and our membership as a whole, was not interested in creating a second class citizen with respect to eliminating the retiree medical benefit for newly-hired employees–men and women who would also be future members of this Union.
The 10% employee health and welfare co-pay may have been palatable to our membership with the City’s pre-funding of the hourly value of the benefit from the start, however the Union and the City were ultimately unable to come to an overall agreement on benefits matters.

 

As all are aware, the economy has not been friendly to those of us sitting at the negotiating table. As for the City of Redding, the general fund is running a deficit of around 4.6 million dollars. Many of our Maintenance membership at the City of Redding are funded via the general fund.
On April 23, after some 8 months of difficult negotiations, the City and Union negotiating committees negotiated a contract extension (May 1, 2009 through May 1, 2010). The extension called for wage equity adjustments for Building and Trades and Electrical Technician classifications, and ad-hoc negotiations over a Water Distribution job classification, but with no general cost of living increases through the term. The City Manager did agree to apply the value of the City’s former 2% cost of living adjustment to saving a full-time IBEW 1245 public works maintenance position, a job which had been slated for elimination amidst budget cuts.
Probably most significant to our membership was the fact that on April 23rd, the City had agreed to remove from the negotiating table their two most controversial proposals, the 10% employee health and welfare co-pay for active employees, and the elimination of City contribution to retiree medical for newly hired employees. These are benefit concessions that the City’s Police, Fire, and SEIU labor organizations had agreed to in past negotiations, in whole or in part.
On April 27, the IBEW Maintenance bargaining unit voted overwhelmingly to accept the tentative agreement for a contract extension.
General negotiations for the Electric bargaining unit is temporarily on hold while we await a decision from the Public Employees Relations Board regarding an Unfair Practice Charge filed by the Union in February. These are tough economic times, but the IBEW membership in both the Electrical and Maintenance Units at the City of Redding deserve much credit for having the foresight in
demanding equitable retiree medical benefit treatment of future hires within their bargaining units.
A special thanks to those members who served with me on IBEW 1245’s Maintenance negotiating committee:
Randy Amaral (Streets)
Chris Fleming (Parks)
Darryl Hughart (Electric Techs)
Mike Carnahan (Solid Waste)
Gary Moeckli (Airport)
Matt Cervenka (Storm Drains)
Dave Guadagni (Water Distribution)
(Ray Thomas is Senior Business Rep. for Local 1245)