City workers gain 18.25% more over five years

"We are very pleased and we think it's a very responsible contract on both sides," --Mayor Herb Pond commenting on the new labour agreement between the city and its workers...

There will be peace on the Prince Rupert civic labour front for at least the next five years as the City and its unionized workers have reached a labour agreement to take the city through to 2012.

In negotiations that must have been conducted under the cone of silence, considering the lack of discussion or public posturing that normally goes with these things, the The City of Prince Rupert and its unionized workers negotiated the labour agreement to provide a new five year deal to replace the old contract which expired on December 31, 2007

CUPE representing the city workers will be able to take back to their membership five years of forward momentum at the pay window, providing for their first raises in ten years. City workers will receive a 3% raise in 2008, 3% in 2009, 3.25 in 2010, 3% in 2011 with an additional 1.5% on July 1st and 3% again in 2012 with another 1.5 on July 1st.

The Mayor citing the accommodations from the union during the city's lean years ( the leanest of which apparently have now passed), praised the union and its members for their assistance on a number of issues during the "dark years", including a new work arrangement at the recently privatized golf course and other sacrifices made during those troubled days.

The Mayor however did not mention how the city has budgeted for the increases in salaries, what with our ongoing infrastructure concerns and the new challenges to the funding formulas seem to arrive every couple of months.

With a suggestion earlier in the year that higher property values didn't necessarily mean an increase in taxes was on the way, it will be interesting to see where the financial juggling has taken place to reward the city workers, all while continuing on with those much needed repairs to the city infrastructure and other needs for the city.

The Daily News featured details of the agreement and the negotiations around them as the front page story in Wednesday's Daily News.

CITY WORKERS' NEW PAY DEAL BUYS FIVE YEARS OF CERTAINTY

CUPE workforce and the city agree to deal that takes them beyond 2012
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Page one

The City of Prince Rupert has signed a new five-year contract with members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 105.

"We are very pleased and we think it's a very responsible contract on both sides," said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond. "We wanted to acknowledge the contribution that CUPE made over the last number of years in assisting the city and the community while they moved through really tough times."

The previous agreement expired Dec. 31, 2007. In the first two years of the new contract, CUPE workers will receive three per cent wage increases. In the third year, they receive 3.25 per cent. Then on Jan. 1, 2011, they will get a three per cent increase with an additional 1.5 per cent increase coming into effect July 1, 2011. The same happens again in 2012.

Pond credited CUPE for an impressive level of co-operation during the time when the city was trying to strip the $2 million in Skeena taxes out of its budget. City workers have not had a raise in the past decade, he said.

"When you go back to those really dark days when we were having to shut down a whole lot of stuff and re-jig the business model, CUPE was taking a day of a month of unpaid time. And when it came time to reconfigure the golf course, CUPE sat down with us and in a very responsible way, looked after their members but found new ways for us to draw up a separate contract that works much better for the golf course," said Pond.

The city privatized the golf course as part of its restructuring in 2004 and this included coming up with a separate contract for golf course workers.

The city also readjusted its priorities for city maintenance and changed garbage pick-up regulations, both of which caused public frustration.

And in 2004, the city implemented service reduction days in order to save a quarter of a million dollars. During those days, one per month, city hall and city operations were closed.

Not only did CUPE members make that sacrifice, they often took the blunt end of the public's wrath when city hall opened the next day, when a member of the public complained about the closures, he said.

"We wanted to recognize all this from those workers," said Pond. "And conversely, I think those workers recognized we aren't out of the blue and we've got some more hard work to do.

"It's a fair settlement and I am really proud of the management negotiating team and the CUPE Team. And having five years works really for everybody."

No one from CUPE Local 105 was available for comment.