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BISBEE — The representative of a public employees union representing 17 employees wanting an agreement with the city said he plans to address the City Council on Sept. 5.
The city, too, says it wants an agreement, and negotiations continue.
Alan Lee, the Southern Arizona representative for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 1769, spoke during the July 18 council meeting’s call to the public, asking the city to give AFSCME a “real agreement.”
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The city had employees who worked seven days a week, receiving no overtime, that the city needs a real grievance procedure and there are employees with more than 20 years of service not at the top pay scale, Lee said.
“We (came) before the City Council to express our frustration about the lack of progress,” Lee later said. “We’re not interested in a feel-good contract.”
He added some Bisbee city employee practices have flaws, and cited call-out procedures and confusion over some job descriptions as examples.
During last Tuesday’s council meeting, City Manager Stephen Pauken responded to Lee’s remarks.
The city does not have employees who work seven days per week, Pauken said. “There were two parks maintenance employees who worked a 40-hour week over seven days when I arrived, and that situation no longer exists,” he said.
Pauken also insisted the city has a real grievance procedure, one outlined in the merit system and personnel policy manual.
A city ordinance, O-05-18, section 3.7.9, states “the city manager or his designee shall serve as the representative of the city and he shall meet and confer solely with the representatives of each employee organization.”
As to 20-year employees not at the top of the range, that occurred due to the wage study the council adopted two years ago that changed most employees’ salary ranges, Pauken said. He added that in 2005, employees below the minimum salary did receive an increase that brought them up to the minimum.
Further, “AFSCME has never presented a concrete proposal to change the current (salary) schedule,” he said.
The city recently signed memoranda of agreement with the firefighter and police unions. Those agreements cover provisions, including raises, benefits, overtime pay and clothing allowances.
“Media coverage of this event indicates that a spirit of cooperation exists between the City Council and these employees organizations. One has to ask: Why not AFSCME, too?” Pauken asked.
“Our employees have been waiting for an agreement, and they deserve something,” Pauken said on Tuesday. “We’re still waiting for the counteroffer. That to me would be the business of the negotiation process.”
The city began working with AFSCME on its agreement before developing agreements with the other two unions, Pauken said.
“I do have the total support of City Council, and they are as anxious as I am to reach a conclusion,” he added.
Pauken said playing the negation process out through the news media is not a productive way to produce an agreement, and that his direction comes from the ordinance.
Lee said he just received a copy of Pauken’s comments and was planning a point-by-point response to them.
“I wish the city manager had focused more time on the contract,” Lee said.
The city and AFSCME have been negotiating since January. In March, Lee presented a brief proposal which Pauken said included a blank spread sheet, with no suggested wages or steps.
AFSCME proposed a contract and sent Bisbee a 40-page document, Lee said.
The two met on May 30 and discussed a possible wage increase for members. Lee suggested general increase over the next three years: 4 percent the first year, and 3 percent for the following two. Pauken told him the city projected a 3.5 percent wage increase for fiscal year 2006-07.
Pauken said Lee was supposed to present a response to the city’s counterproposal no later than June 13, but as of Friday, had not done so.
Lee, for his part, said the city “did not give us anything in writing until the 11th hour with a six-page proposal that did not address the basic issues you address in a contract.”
Lee said AFSCME wants to work in a cooperative way with the city.
“I believe at the end of the day, (Pauken) is going to work with us,” he said.
Herald/Review reporter Karen Weil can be reached at 515-4692 or by e-mail at karen.weil@bisbeereview.net.
Ezai I. Martinez wrote on Jun 24, 2009 7:58 PM: