These tables, provided to the Wrangell Assembly by the city's finance office during its FY18 budget workshop held last month, indicate the most recent hourly step and grade levels on the wage table for both unionized (top) and non-unionized (bottom) positions. In a decision made on June 20 adopting the city's last best offer to its public utilities union, beginning July 1 the bottom six steps of the upper table will be dropped with three added on at the top at an increase of two percent per step. Employees currently on the bottom six steps would be bumped up to the current Step 7. Taking effect last Saturday, a $0.75 pay increase was also added across the board. IBEW Local 1547 had rejected this offer on June 9, preferring its own proposal, the only difference being a $2.50 increase across the board. Following the end of workers' weeklong strike on June 28, the two parties are back at the negotiating table.
A strike called by public employees of Wrangell on June 22 only lasted a week, with workers taking up their posts again on June 29.
Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547 had laid down its tools following a decision by the City and Borough Assembly on June 20 to implement a new contract after negotiations between the union and city's bargaining teams had reached an impasse. The two parties have been negotiating a collective bargaining agreement since the last one expired in the summer of 2014. The strike was the latest escalation in the proceedings, which last year saw the initiation of legal action after the two parties failed to agree on arbitration terms.
That case had been settled in December, and one provision of the agreement had been to let the union's team make its final offer to the Assembly if it was rejected by the city's team. Assembly members were not a part of the ongoing negotiations, and their involvement was unusual, according to city attorney Bob Blasco.
The proposal was presented on June 8, after the union and city negotiators had earlier declined each other's last best offers. Comparing offers, both parties' packages had found agreement on issues of health insurance premium cost sharing by workers of 15 percent, and updating the wage table to drop the bottom six of 16 steps, while adding three more to the top. Each step would reflect a two-percent increase from the previous level.
Where the packages primarily differed was concerning wages. IBEW wanted a $2.50 hourly increase to the table, across the board. This $2.50 package was presented to the Assembly on June 8, and after technical consultation with Blasco, members voted against the full offer. Its issue was with wages, it explained, and members encouraged both parties to continue negotiating on that point.
The city's team made an offer the next day featuring a $0.75 increase, which it estimated would cover the additional cost to employees for their share of insurance under the new contract. The union rejected that offer as inadequate, standing by its June 8 offer. Meeting June 16, members of the IBEW bargaining unit – 24 city employees it represents in the contract negotiation – voted to approve a strike action, pending the Assembly's response.
Meeting June 20, Assembly members voted 6-0 to implement the $0.75 offer, taking effect at the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. The union local filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the Alaska Labor Relations Board the following day, and workers took up pickets on June 22. The filing makes seven assertions, among which that the city bargained in bad faith, that its last offer on June 9 was "regressive and designed to foreclose future negotiations," and that it had withdrawn agreed-to provisions and engaged in dilatory tactics.
With workers in a number of key departments on leave as part of the action, the city turned to temporary staff to maintain services as best as it could. Unionized staff were not completely out of the picture, with electrical department workers stepping in twice over the following weekend to resolve transmission issues. One area where the city was unable to continue service was with garbage collection, and residents were asked to bring their own refuse to the transfer facility during the strike.
On June 28 IBEW extended an offer to the city that the strike could be ended immediately if Wrangell agreed to resume negotiations. In a message sent that day to the union's attorney, Serena Green, Blasco informed her the city was willing to return to the table, provided the unfair labor practices claim was dismissed.
A settlement reached, the two parties' teams conferred over the phone the morning of June 29, as striking workers resumed their posts. Garbage collection resumed that day, just in time for the July 4 weekend and its various, messy activities.
"We want to thank the union member employees for their willingness to return to work at their regular(ly) scheduled start times," the city commented in a public release. On the negotiations, interim manager Carol Rushmore said the two teams would be working on a schedule to continue negotiations. The decision does not reverse the Assembly's earlier adoption of a contract, which still took effect on Saturday.
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