City of Portland unions reach 4-year agreement

The DCTU is an umbrella organization of seven unions that bargains jointly with the city. The unions are American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 189, Electrical Workers Local 48, Laborers Municipal Employees Local 483, Machinists Local 1005, Operating Engineers Local 701, Painters District Council 5 and Plumbers and Fitters Local 290.

Each of the unions has presented the tentative proposal to their executive boards for review. Some 1,800 city employees will vote on the pact at separate union meetings to be held later this month. Ballots will be counted jointly on March 31.

Fire Fighters Local 43, the Portland Police Association and the Bureau of Emergency Communications (Portland metro 9-1-1 operators who are also members of Local 189) bargain separate contracts under different timelines.

DCTU and city officials have been meeting informally for several weeks preparing for what many assumed would be difficult bargaining. Instead, the two sides were able to reach agreement during the informal meeting stage.

That’s a 180-degree turn from previous bargaining. In 2001, city employees embarked on a brief (four-hours-in-the-middle-of-the-night) strike four months after their old contract had expired. Health insurance was at the heart of that dispute.

In 2004, the contract was extended for two years, which got it to this point.

Labor’s top issue in 2006 again was affordable health insurance. For nearly a decade, a reserve fund (built up in the early ’90s when insurance premiums were flat) has paid for the portion of employees premiums that exceeded a negotiated cap.

“We’ve been living off that reserve for more than eight years,” said Richard Beetle, business manager of Laborers Local 483, which represents 585 city employees. “Everyone knew the subsidy couldn’t continue.”

With the reserve fund nearly depleted and future costs of health insurance unpredictable, the sides expressed their concerns and expectations during the informal meetings. At a meeting in late February, the city presented DCTU with a proposal: A four-year contract — beginning July 1 and running through June 30, 2010 — with the city paying 95 percent of the health insurance premium costs for medical, dental and vision insurance for either City Core or Kaiser coverage; annual cost-of-living (COLA) raises based on the area Consumer Price Index, with a guaranteed 2 percent minimum and a maximum of 5 percent, regardless of the CPI numbers; all Public Employees Retirement System language in the contract would be updated to reflect current language in Oregon law, some of which was changed by the 2003 Legislature and subsequent court cases. All other language in the contract would remain the same.

The actual dollar amount that employees pay for their health insurance will vary depending on the coverage (single, married or family).

Over the next four years, the DCTU and the city also will work together to implement a wellness program, with a goal of cutting insurance claims by 3 to 5 percent. And labor and management will lobby state and federal governments for solutions to rising health care costs.

James Hester, staff representative for Local 189 and the chief negotiator for the DCTU, says the agreement on health care coverage was a key to the deal.