Clark County has reached agreement on contracts with four unions covering 700 workers. The three-year agreements provide for across-the-board wage increases of 1.75, 2, and 2 percent and run from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2018.
The contracts otherwise largely maintain existing terms, including health insurance, for which workers pay 7 percent of premiums, a composite rate that covers employees and dependents.
The four unions bargained together in coalition. Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 11 represents 298 members at several agencies; AFSCME Local 307 represents 200 employees in public works; Professional & Technical Employees Local 17 (PTE17) represents 155 engineers; and Laborers Local 335 represents 54 workers in the county health department.
OPEIU Local 11 representative Maureen Colvin says the Local 11 contract also fixed a source of inequity between new hires and more senior employees over paid time off.
Clark County’s sometimes polarized politics played little role in the negotiations. There was an early push to make bargaining sessions open to the public, something Colvin said would have been unproductive, but that was scuttled.
Members of all the unions have ratified the deals; next they go to Clark County Board of County Councilors, which could vote on them as early as Sept. 29.
