Representatives between the city and its public employees union met in court in Ketchikan Tuesday for a scheduled settlement conference, as part of an ongoing arbitration dispute between Wrangell and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547. The conference was set to continue into Wednesday.
On December 6 Judge William Carey of the Ketchikan Superior Court was appointed as the settlement judge by Judge Trevor Stephens, who is assigned to the civil case. Parties were given until Monday to submit confidential briefs ahead of the conference, outlining the facts of the matter and each side’s settlement position.
The issue has been ongoing, since the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement between the city and its workers represented by the Local 1547 in June 2014. Since then both sides have been unable to come to terms on a new agreement.
Mediation undertaken through the spring of 2015 did not resolve the dispute, with last best offers rejected by both parties that summer. Lawyers were formally involved, and discussions over use of a third-party arbitrator to settle the disagreement continued into this year. Robert Landau of Anchorage was selected to fill that role, but the city formally withdrew from the process over this summer, citing disagreements over the terms and scheduling of arbitration.
The city filed to enjoin the arbitration hearing that had been set for early October, which Stevens accepted on September 28. A subsequent motion to postpone civil proceedings for six months was only approved by half, with Stephens allowing CBW an extension for discovery until February 17, 2017. By then it must file its opposition to IBEW’s motion for summary judgment.
If the union does not win on summary judgment, the matter will proceed to trial, with a six-day trial set to commence on August 7, 2017, with a calendar call to occur on July 14. Parties may be added and pleadings amended without motion until January 9.
This week’s settlement conference gives both parties the opportunity to meet with a judge before trial to explore ways to settle their issues. The meeting includes legal representation, and while the judge has no official authority to compel a settlement, Carey’s role would be to encourage an agreement by critiquing each party’s trial positions. Ostensibly he would also indicate how a judge might rule on the disputed issues during the trial.
In the Report of Planning Meeting filed with the court, the settlement conference was one of the possibilities discussed between the parties for resolving the dispute ahead of the scheduled trial. The other option listed was mediation.
Employees under contract with the city continue to be compensated under the previous collective bargaining agreement. However, from the union’s perspective the delay in reaching an updated agreement amounts to a freeze on wages and benefits during the ongoing dispute. In its filings, IBEW further asserts that CBW has not given its employees a base wage increase since 2011. It has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the state Labor Relations Agency as a result.
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