Revisiting an issue held over from its March 13 meeting, the City and Borough Assembly on Tuesday dug back into redefining job descriptions for a unionized electrical position.
Being proposed is a modification to the groundman/meter reading position with Wrangell Municipal Light and Power. On the wage table, the entry-level position is among the lowest grades among staff included in the collective bargaining agreement.
Consulting with former electrical superintendent Clay Hammer before his recent departure, city manager Lisa Von Bargen was proposing that the position’s description be amended to clarify additional duties picked up informally by the position over the years. With this, a wage grade increase would accompany the revision.
Bearing in mind the additional certifications an employee in the position is expected to acquire, Von Bargen additionally recommended creating distinct Technician I and II levels. The second tech level would have a correspondingly elevated pay scale. Von Bargen reported the scale she recommended was based on Hammer’s research of comparable positions with other municipalities.
Recalibrating positions outside of union negotiations is not unheard of. After the retirement of Public Works’ mechanic lead position in December the assembly approved an amendment to it upgrading its position on the wage and grade table.
Favorable implications of the change here that were suggested would be an allowance for position advancement by creating the second level. Meanwhile, upgrading the wage scale for both levels would better reflect the work’s comparable value.
During its previous foray into the item, assembly members were by and large uncomfortable making changes outside of the collective bargaining agreement process. The latest three-year agreement was arrived at last summer only after resolving a lengthy, contentious disagreement between the city and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local, involving both court action and a weeklong strike at various junctures. When it was concluded, union staffers ended up with an upwardly adjusted wage table and some concessions on health care copay.
Asked by Von Bargen to speak to the matter as Hammer’s temporary stand-in, line foreman Mark Armstrong fielded several questions assembly members had raised at the previous meeting.
“It isn’t that the job will change. It has changed,” Armstrong explained. While not usual, the collective bargaining agreement does allow for modifications if there is agreement on both sides. A shop steward, he attested their IBEW local had already signed off on the proposed changes.
“I’m not here to represent the union,” Armstrong clarified, reminding the assembly he was here by invitation.
The added level would reflect the certifications gained after four years of meter school, he added.
If left unrectified, he suggested the current occupant of the groundman position was within his rights not to carry out duties not outlined in his job description. Those tasks would still get done, but by linemen and at a higher cost to the city.
“We’re not saying the work isn’t going to be done, but there is concern it isn’t going to be done by the person in this position,” Von Bargen said.
Recalling the prior negotiations, assembly member Stephen Prysunka said the city’s negotiators had attempted to clarify the groundman position’s duties during CBA negotiations.
“I know this was discussed with Mr. Armstrong in a meeting,” he said, participating over the phone. “We attempted to get this cleaned up with the union. We attempted to get this done. And they chose not to get this done.”
Working outside of the CBA, Prysunka added, could ultimately end up hurting the city’s bargaining position when it came time to renegotiate a new agreement.
“I am going to say that I agree with councilman Prysunka,” added member David Powell. “The job’s going to get done no matter what… We already pay them to do this job.” It was his preference that the issue be dealt with under collective bargaining.
Assembly member Julie Decker appreciated that changes could be made to the CBA if both parties agreed. However, she felt both sides were still “licking wounds” from their tense negotiations. While at face value the request seemed reasonable, she felt it begged questioning why it wasn’t dealt with during negotiations.
Pressed with questions, Armstrong reiterated that he was at the meeting not as a union steward but as the superintendent’s stand-in. “I’ve been asked not to speak about that by the city manager. This was not supposed to be a union thing,” he told assembly members. “I did, however, provide information to the city manager about why the union did what they did.”
Von Bargen explained she had not felt it an appropriate setting to revisit what had been said during negotiations, and cautioned the assembly that similar recalibrations could be forthcoming, particularly as the city considers reconfiguring its departmental organization.
“I will tell you there are other things already being looked at,” she said. “A three-year time period is a very long time to wait.”
“If the assembly does not approve this, I would like clear direction for other positions,” Von Bargen concluded.
Powell clarified that, while he disagreed with her in this instance, he was not prepared to tell Von Bargen categorically how to do her job. “I’m just saying, ‘On this one, I’m going to disagree with you.’”
After some further discussion assembly members at last conceded they would be willing to consider a “cleaned up” revision of the groundman position’s description, but not a two-tier readjustment. Von Bargen agreed she would have something prepared for their next meeting on April 10.
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