Correction
*This story has been corrected to reflect that the Laborers' International Union of Local America, Local 773, represents 324 city employees.
COLUMBIA — Representatives for city workers, police and firefighters presented demands related to working conditions to the Columbia City Council, asking for measures including wage increases, seniority-based pay adjustments and measures toward higher employee retention.
After four presentations, the council went into a closed session for about half an hour before convening its regular meeting.
Matching Matthes
The Laborers’ International Union of North America’s Local 773, which represents 324 city workers*, called for increasing the wages of all union members to match City Manager Mike Matthes’ raise in December. The council unanimously voted to increase Matthes' base salary from $157,186 to $165,000.
Paul Prendergast, an attorney representing Local 773, said the lack of a contract between the union and city legally allows the city to change employment terms, including worker pay, at any moment.
“That’s unfair,” Prendergast said. “Frankly, I think that’s un-American.”
Although Prendergast wasn't sure whether the wage increase demand is realistic, he said he hoped it would have a symbolic effect.
“If nothing else, it will shed a light on some of the hypocrisy that we have,” Prendergast said. “When one city manager … gets such a large percentage of an increase and the people who make the least get the least, what it does is it just increases the wage inequity.”
Keeping bus drivers and mechanics
The union also demanded wage increases to $15 per hour for bus drivers because of high turnover. According to the union's presentation, new bus drivers can spend between 12 and 18 months with the city before finding higher-paying jobs, such as with schools. Cindy Robinson, union steward for the union's Transit Division, said some bus drivers only stay with the city for three months.
Drivers have been performing mandatory overtime for more than a year, working up to 12 to 14 extra hours twice a week to meet service needs, according to the union's presentation.
Robinson said long work hours — such as 13-hour Saturdays — lead to high turnover among bus drivers.
The union also stipulated wage increases and specific adjustments based on seniority and the salary median for vehicle mechanics. Trained mechanics are not attracted to Columbia because the pay isn't competitive, and turnover is high for the same reason, according to the union.
The union called for the council's endorsement of a collective bargaining agreement including the union and two city departments: Public Works and Parks and Recreation. This is the ninth year the union has proposed such an ordinance, which details negotiation practices for wages, hours, rules and working conditions.
Police and firefighters
Demands of the Columbia Police Officers’ Association included:
. Compensation for standby, which is when officers are on-call for an event and must be within a certain distance of an event but are not actively patrolling.
. Incentive pay for special qualifications, such as the ability to speak a foreign language.
. Raises based on seniority and median salary.
. Reviving a 2 percent pension fund match previously rescinded as part of retirement negotiations.
Dale Roberts, executive director of the police union, considers standby pay to be crucial to respect a 40-hour work week.
“If (police officers) are put on standby, they’ve basically lost their day off,” he said.
Roberts said because the city and MU determine when officers are needed for standby duty, the Police Department could not project the costs of standby pay for fiscal 2017.
When asked why the retirement match had been rescinded by the city, Roberts said there wasn’t much explanation and that the measure was announced by the city without “a great deal of information to back that up.” He also said the city did not properly invest in police retirement funds.
“For a number of years, the city failed to fund (the retirement) account,” Roberts said.
According to city documents, pension funds for police and firefighters are about 20 percent short of the city's funding goal.
Roberts also indicated issues with seniority pay. He said more than 60 officers who have worked over five years have not reached median pay.
The International Association of Firefighters’ local chapter requested an increase in meal allowances from $13 per diem to $18, full staffing of all fire vehicles, and annual physicals for firefighters, who currently receive biennial exams. The increase in money for meals would cost about $80,000, according to the IAFF, but it did not project a cost for its staffing proposal. The IAFF estimates annual exams would cost $40,000.
The Columbia Police Lieutenants Association gave a brief presentation, requesting to keep its ability to hold third-party reviews over any firing decisions. In September, the City Council agreed to recognize six lieutenants as a separate collective bargaining union.
Supervising editor is William Schmitt.
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