City workers’ union labor contract extended
The final labor contract between Local 620 Services Employees International Union and the Paso Robles City Council has been negotiated and approved.
City maintenance, administration and water and wastewater technicians receive two percent salary increase
–At the Paso Robles City Council meeting, Tuesday, May 3, council approved an extended labor contract with the Local 620 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) labor group, a Central Coast union that represents city workers in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County. This is the last to be negotiated and employees under this contract will receive a two percent pay rise effective Apr. 24 pay period.
The contract covers various jobs within the city, including maintenance specialists, administrative assistants, and technicians that work in the water and wastewater divisions. They received a zero percent pay increase in 2015 and their original contract expired Dec. 2014. The new contract also provides for the city to increase its contribution to employee’s monthly defined health contribution.
Williamson said discussions between the city and SEIU representatives to extend their contract had been occurring in good faith over the last 16 months. “In the face of state and national economic trends, our community’s fiscal challenges have been great, but not insurmountable,” she said. “City employees were willing to assist during these challenging times through deferral of scheduled wage and benefit changes, and through implementation of less costly second tier retirement plans for new employees…The Paso Robles economy is now showing signs of trending stability, and some restoration of city services is being implemented, council has authorized negotiation of modest salary adjustments for employees.”
The cost of implementing wage increases for all labor contracts for city employees is approximately $400,000 annually to the general fund and $75,000 annually to the enterprise funds. The annual cost of the increase to the SEIU monthly defined health benefit is approximately $62,000.
Close to 100 Local 620 union members showed up to protest on March 1, 2016 in front of the library/city hall building calling for a fair contract with the city. Members said they had been bargaining since October 2014 for an agreement between the city and the union.
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