Title
Agenda Item:
Approval of IAFF Wage Increase
Body
Issue:
Approval of wage increase for IAFF, Local #468.
Committee Recommendation:
N/A
City Manager's Recommendation:
Move to approve a wage increase of 1% for IAFF, Local #468, effective July 1, 2013.
Staff Contact:
Jay Burney, Assistant City Manager, 360.753.8740
Presenter(s):
Jay Burney, Assistant City Manager
Background and Analysis:
The current IAFF, Local #468 Contract, approved by Council in April of 2012, expires at the end of 2013. The contract provided for a staggered 3% increase in 2012 and a 2% increase in 2013 with a wage opener.
During the negotiations for the current contract, a sufficient number of our comparable jurisdictions had not settled their negotiations for 2012, making it difficult to determine if additional compensation was needed for 2013 beyond the 2% minimum. The contract included a wage opener for 2013 to address this issue, with the hopes that a sufficient number of contracts had settled. Discussions with the union began at the end of 2012.
The comparable data indicated that IAFF, Local #468 was an additional 1% behind the average of our comparable jurisdictions in terms of total compensation. The City and the union agreed that a 1% increase was warranted in keeping with our practice of remaining within the average of our comparable jurisdictions. In an effort to help lessen the financial impact, the union agreed to an effective date of July 1, 2013 for the increase to be implemented. The financial impact of this increase, which includes the Assistant Chiefs, is shown in Attachment 1.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
N/A
Options:
1. Approve a wage increase of 1% for IAFF, Local #468, effective July 1, 2013.
2. Do not approve a wage increase of 1% for IAFF, Local #468 and direct staff as to next steps.
Financial Impact:
Financial impacts are shown in Attachment 1.