After lengthy deadlock, compromise reached on all but one
contract issue; arbitrator will decide salaries
Gilroy – Closed-door negotiations amidst the climax of a year-long labor battle have settled all but one major contract dispute between City Hall and the local fire union, officials disclosed Friday. The sides expect a final decision on the outstanding issue of salary increases next month, giving them a 12-month respite before another round of potentially explosive labor talks begin.
“I would have rather seen a longer contract, but overall we came up with the best package that we could put together,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said.
Art Amaro, president of Fire Local #2805, said the sides discussed the possibility of a four- or five-year deal, but agreed to a three-year contract that covers all of 2005 through 2007.
“Hopefully the economy will get even better by then,” Amaro said. “Now we’re just waiting for the end of this (process). We’ve still got the salary part to go.”
The fire union is asking for a 10 percent wage increase for the three year contract, while the city has offered 4.5 percent. John Kagel, an arbitrator from Palo Alto, is expected to choose one of the offers in July. His decision, which is limited to one of the two proposals, will be binding on both parties.
With the exception of the salary dispute, Kagel helped bridge a lot of ground during arbitration hearings in January and March. When he was not presiding over the presentation of evidence during the hearings, Kagel shuttled between the groups to hammer out compromises. The arbitrator’s ideal, he said on the dais, is to avoid having to impose a decision on either side.
Under Kagel’s pressure, the city agreed to a costly new retirement package for firefighters, though the 36-member union settled for slightly less than what their peers in the police department receive. The agreement gives firefighters the “3 at 55” benefit, so called because it pays three percent of highest salary for every year worked – up to 30 years – and allows retirement as early as age 55. The benefit allows firefighters to retire with 90 percent of pay far more quickly than under their current program, though not quite as soon as they could under “3 at 50” – the benefit enjoyed by police officers.
“We felt the arbitrator was going to give us (3 at 55) and was not going to give us 3 at 50,” Amaro said, recounting his impression of the closed-door meetings.
The 3 at 55 benefit will tack on roughly $250,000 to the fire union payroll of $3.4 million, according to city calculations. In March, city officials said the 3 at 50 program would have cost an additional $515,000, though that calculation was made before a recent upswing of investment returns under the California Public Employee Retirement System, according to Gilroy Human Resources Director LeeAnn McPhillips. Strong returns lower the amount the city must contribute to CalPERS on behalf of employees.
Pinheiro would not speculate on whether the city would challenge an effort to obtain 3 at 50 during the next round of negotiations, which start in spring 2007. Amaro could not predict if the issue would resurface next year.
“It’s always going to be on the back burner,” he said. “It’s there, but when we want to go for it is up to the membership. It could be right away or it could be way down the line. I don’t know.”
The labor deadlock now coming to an end inspired a heated political battle last year, as Pinheiro led an effort to repeal binding arbitration through the ballot box. Council support for the measure withered as the November election approached and union complaints about due process and threats of political retribution grew louder.
But an even bigger fight could lay ahead.
City officials and firefighters avoided a head-on collision this year by taking the issue of minimum staffing levels off the table. Awarded by an arbitrator in 2001, the union views the baseline of four firefighters per engine as a vital safety precaution. While they called any rollback of the provision a “deal breaker” during negotiations, the city and union have struck a gentlemen’s agreement – not written into the terms of the latest contract – that would allow three firefighters at the Sunrise Station in northwest Gilroy.
A move by city leaders to force the staffing issue next year would almost surely land in court and draw statewide attention. City Hall officials argue that decisions about staffing levels fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of city administrators, and that outside arbitrators have no business deciding such matters.
The union believes existing law favors its position, but state courts have not definitively settled the matter.
“The city wanted all the staffing language to come out of the (contract),” McPhillips said, “but we mutually agreed to put off the whole subject. … I think both sides wanted to do what’s best for the city, the firefighters, and most importantly, the community.”
