IBEW met with City of Alameda for negotiations on Jan. 19, 2011. New Assistant General Manager (AGM) Doug Draeger replaced AGM Sheri Hong on committee for the City. Overtime callout procedures were referred to an Ad-Hoc committee.
On the morning of Feb. 2, the Ad-Hoc committee met and discussed implementing a weekly sign-up for emergency overtime. Also discussed was bypass pay as compensatory award for employees bypassed by a misadministration of the OT callout list.
“Both parties agreed conceptually and committed to crafting language. Also discussed were provisions related to standby duty and use of pre-arranged overtime for anticipated emergency outages,” said Local 1245 Business Rep. Al Fortier.
The City and the full bargaining committee met on the afternoon of Feb 2. The union was expecting financial proposals from the City but did not receive any. Instead the negotiator for the City said that they would rather address issues with the public safety group (police and fire) first.
The City negotiator indicated that the new council is asking the Financial Manager and the City Manager to prepare projections that would keep the City financially stable, but would also allow financial sharing with IBEW and other groups. According to the City negotiator, the City would expect that any increases in wages would have to be offset with concessions in Health and Pension as a mean of generating savings for the City.
“The union reiterated our position that Alameda Municipal Power is an enterprise fund, and that IBEW members’ wages and benefits have no impact on the City’s general fund. And furthermore, that money that Alameda Municipal Power transfers to the general fund pays for the superior benefits enjoyed by police and fire,” said Fortier.