 |
|
|
|
Ben Gikis, president of the Sunnyvale Employees' Association, said contract negotiations between city officials and union leaders have improved.
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Employee's union and city reach tentative agreement
By Sam Scott
Perhaps it was Cupid's arrow at last bringing them together. On Feb. 14, the city and its largest labor union, the Sunnyvale Employees' Association, reached a tentative contract agreement, possibly ending almost 14 months of talks and eight months without a contract.
The SEA membership will vote on the proposed contract on Feb. 29. Assuming the contract garners two-thirds approval, the council will vote on it the following week.
"It is a good contract and better than we had," union president Ben Gikis said. "But considering the booming economic time in Sunnvyale, there was more we feel like they [the city] could have done."
City officials declined to comment on the contract until it is voted on by the union. "I cannot comment on anything," said David Nieto, director of Human Resources. "We don't want to jeopardize anything."
According to city documents, the parties reached an agreement after receiving an independent arbitrator's ruling recommending a settlement. Throughout negotiations, the city and its workers agreed that the workers were underpaid. However, agreement on the steps to change the pay scale proved to be a high hurdle.
The city had offered a contract paying workers based on average reported salaries of similar positions in 10 Bay Area cities, ranging from Santa Clara to Richmond. The SEA leadership objected to the inclusion of East Bay cities like Richmond and Hayward in the Sunnyvale formula.
"Those cities are in it for the sole purpose of lowering salaries," Gikis said in November.
The union sought to change the cities used in the city report or reduce the number of cities sampled. Union leaders hoped to bring the proposed salary range closer to salary averages in Santa Clara, Milpitas and Palo Alto. City officials refused, saying the cities used to calculate the average represent the labor market in which Sunnyvale employees work.
In the tentative five-year contract, Gikis said, the city agreed to drop the sample city with the lowest average salaries from the salary calculation formula during the last three years of the contract. Cupertino managers calculate salary rates on a yearly basis based on the 10-city formula. Gikis also reported progress on employee negotiations for compensation for their time spent without a contract. After the previous SEA contract expired in 1999, City Manager Robert LaSala said any new labor contract would not be retroactive. Gikis, however, said the tentative agreement is retroactive to August and that workers will receive a raise and back pay should the contract be approved.
Agreement aside, SEA officials still feel the city was stingy, maintaining that the city is enjoying record prosperity. "It's not amicable when they won't admit they've got all that money," said SEA attorney David Klisham.
More than 400 workers in non-management city positions make up SEA's membership.
|
|
|
|
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
