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Council Rewards City’s Blue-Collar Workers
News Aug 10, 2016
NBC4 weathercaster Fritz Coleman and Hillsides Chief Advancement Officer Carrie Espinoza at last year's Ice House benefit. –Courtesy photo
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The AFSCME, Local 858, represents “312 full-time equivalent employees in 11 city departments, including water and power, public works, police, and transportation.” – Courtesy photo
Memorandum of Understanding Includes One-Time Payouts, Increased Salaries, Tuition Reimbursement, and Other Benefits
By Gus Herrera
Labor disputes between the city and hundreds of its most essential blue-collar employees officially came to an end when council approved a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) last Monday night.
City workers, represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Local 858, had been seeking equal footing at the bargaining table for quite some time and council finally brought an end to their struggle.
Item 8 on the evening’s agenda, which was adopted without any opposition, authorized a “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Pasadena and the AFSCME, Local 858 for the term of July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2018.” In addition to one-time lump sum payouts for bargaining members, the new MOU provides pay increases, improved benefits, and modified language, among other items, successfully bringing to an end the standoff between Pasadena and the AFSCME, Local 858, which represents “312 full-time equivalent employees in 11 city departments, including water and power, public works, police, and transportation … ” according to city staff’s report.
Conflicts between the two sides climaxed in June when Pasadena Now reported an informal strike, citing a union representative who “claimed that 260 out 300 union members working for the City of Pasadena stayed home from their jobs in a ‘spontaneous’ action.”
Three days later, on June 20, city workers and AFSCME representatives flooded the council chambers in protest of the labor disputes, which, at the time, had stalled.
According to a statement posted by the AFSCME, city workers were “singled out by management and asked to accept inferior pay and benefits compared with most other city employees.”
The AFSCME claimed that despite the workers’ flexible disposition in the past, which allowed the city to postpone a pay increase they promised back in 2006 (an act which saved Pasadena over $800,000), the city continued to low-ball its workers by pushing “for an agreement that would hurt AFSCME members by cutting healthcare and reducing retirement benefits by eight percent …” In return, the city offered the workers two, one percent pay increases.
“These workers have always been the ones to step up and sacrifice when budget times were tough,” said AFSCME, Local 858 representative Lee Wax, “but it is not ok that management gives themselves raises and negotiates fair deals with everyone else but them. All they are asking for is an honest discussion at the bargaining table and equal treatment in the workforce.”
A week after the workers took their plight inside the council chambers, the city and union representatives finally agreed upon a new MOU, which was ratified by the AFSCME on July 27.
The MOU provides two pay raises – all bargaining unit members “will receive a 3 percent salary increase,” effective Aug. 8, and “a 2.5 percent base salary increase,” effective July 1, 2017. All bargaining unit members will also “receive a one-time lump sum payment in the amount of $1,650.”
There are also several items improved in favor of the city’s workers. Any employees subject to stand-by/on-call assignments “will be compensated at the rate of $1.50 per hour while on stand-by,” a 50-cent increase from the original rate of $1 per hour. Employee’s annual boot allowances will be “increased from $175 to $200” and workers in the human services and recreation department will be provided five uniforms at no-cost, which will be replaced by the city, as necessary.
The MOU also includes an improved tuition reimbursement clause, which will allow workers who are currently pursuing a “degree or certificate” in a “job-related field” to be eligible for “tuition reimbursement in the amount of $1,000 per fiscal year.”
Additionally, city staff’s report noted that the MOU “contains additional mutually-agreed upon modifications, updates, and language clean-up on a variety of economic items.”
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