Post by crudo on Oct 5, 2005 18:59:46 GMT -5
Council dictates another contract
Clerks and civil engineers, like others on city payroll, lose retirement showdown
By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
For the second time in as many weeks, Modesto City Council members on Tuesday rejected pleas by unhappy city employees and imposed contract terms on another labor union.
The result: About 800 employees, the lion's share of the city's work force, now labor under conditions they didn't want and didn't vote for, although members of both unions ultimately will get raises.
Last week's decision, punctuated by protest signs and a huge Modesto City Employees Association crowd, gave way Tuesday to a smaller group of Modesto Confidential and Management Association members with no signs.
But the outcome — conditions imposed by a council unanimously insisting on fiscal responsibility — was the same.
Negotiations with both unions broke down over retirement benefits. Representatives of the unions offered to give up raises to pay for larger benefits after retirement.
"For the city, the cost is zero," Modesto Confidential and Management Association President Laurie Smith said Tuesday.
She said City Hall's refusal to budge on three contract points — pay, health benefits and enhanced retirement — will drain Modesto of qualified, professional and dedicated employees. "We must address at least one side of the work force triangle to retain employees and attract new workers," Smith said.
More than 120 Northern California municipalities, including 40 percent of cities, offer retirement packages better than Modesto's, Smith said.
Labor attorney Bob Phibbs said losing workers to competing agencies "is a citywide plague that the City Council and management is going to be faced with in the future. The status quo is just simply no longer acceptable."
But city Personnel Director Robin Renwick, quoting a contact at the California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, said a trend toward better retirement benefits among other agencies has "slowed to a trickle." She said Modesto would have even more trouble attracting applicants if salaries stagnate.
Industry experts say city leaders must resist union demands to increase retirement benefits, Councilman Bob Dunbar said.
If the council agreed to better retirement payouts for the 230members of the Modesto Confidential and Management Association, CalPERS would require the city to extend the same benefits to the Modesto City Employees Association's more than 550members, Councilman Brad Hawn noted.
Renwick said the combined hit would be more than $3 million a year, not to mention losing experienced employees eager to cash in on more attractive retirements.
Modesto Confidential and Management Association members range from administrative clerks earning about $29,000 yearly to senior civil engineers with $61,000 salaries. They will get 3.5 percent raises in each of the next two years, according to terms imposed Tuesday.
Association members never voted on a proposed contract. The Modesto City Employees Association, representing other workers, overwhelmingly re-jected a potential deal negotiated by its bargainers.
Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or gstapley@modbee.com.
Clerks and civil engineers, like others on city payroll, lose retirement showdown
By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
For the second time in as many weeks, Modesto City Council members on Tuesday rejected pleas by unhappy city employees and imposed contract terms on another labor union.
The result: About 800 employees, the lion's share of the city's work force, now labor under conditions they didn't want and didn't vote for, although members of both unions ultimately will get raises.
Last week's decision, punctuated by protest signs and a huge Modesto City Employees Association crowd, gave way Tuesday to a smaller group of Modesto Confidential and Management Association members with no signs.
But the outcome — conditions imposed by a council unanimously insisting on fiscal responsibility — was the same.
Negotiations with both unions broke down over retirement benefits. Representatives of the unions offered to give up raises to pay for larger benefits after retirement.
"For the city, the cost is zero," Modesto Confidential and Management Association President Laurie Smith said Tuesday.
She said City Hall's refusal to budge on three contract points — pay, health benefits and enhanced retirement — will drain Modesto of qualified, professional and dedicated employees. "We must address at least one side of the work force triangle to retain employees and attract new workers," Smith said.
More than 120 Northern California municipalities, including 40 percent of cities, offer retirement packages better than Modesto's, Smith said.
Labor attorney Bob Phibbs said losing workers to competing agencies "is a citywide plague that the City Council and management is going to be faced with in the future. The status quo is just simply no longer acceptable."
But city Personnel Director Robin Renwick, quoting a contact at the California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, said a trend toward better retirement benefits among other agencies has "slowed to a trickle." She said Modesto would have even more trouble attracting applicants if salaries stagnate.
Industry experts say city leaders must resist union demands to increase retirement benefits, Councilman Bob Dunbar said.
If the council agreed to better retirement payouts for the 230members of the Modesto Confidential and Management Association, CalPERS would require the city to extend the same benefits to the Modesto City Employees Association's more than 550members, Councilman Brad Hawn noted.
Renwick said the combined hit would be more than $3 million a year, not to mention losing experienced employees eager to cash in on more attractive retirements.
Modesto Confidential and Management Association members range from administrative clerks earning about $29,000 yearly to senior civil engineers with $61,000 salaries. They will get 3.5 percent raises in each of the next two years, according to terms imposed Tuesday.
Association members never voted on a proposed contract. The Modesto City Employees Association, representing other workers, overwhelmingly re-jected a potential deal negotiated by its bargainers.
Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or gstapley@modbee.com.