The largest union of Multnomah County employees reached tentative agreement on a new contract with the county Dec. 29 after four mediation sessions.
The proposed contract for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 88 includes a minimum wage of $21 per hour by July 1, 2026.
The contract would give a raise of 2.4% or at least $1 per hour retroactive to July 2025; a 3.5% raise in July 2026; and an inflation-based raise between 1% and 4% in July 2027. Those raises come in addition to annual 3% step increases for workers who haven’t reached the top of the eight-step scale.
The raises are far below what Local 88 had proposed in the fall. The union had sought a $3 per hour increase to starting wages for the first year, $2 in the second year, $2 in the third year, and a 3% annual increase to higher steps.
Local 88 represents around 4,000 county employees under a contract that expired June 30, 2025.
“This has been a difficult and hard-fought process with the county, especially knowing what the county has stated about the budget deficit and their poor economic outlook,” union bargaining team member Imogen Fox said in a video update announcing the tentative agreement.
If the agreement is ratified, newly hired workers and newly promoted workers would get a probationary period of just six months instead of a full year as it is now.
Long-term employees who have worked for the county for 15 years would get a one-time grant of an extra week of paid time off.
Local 88 also proposed to set consistent standards for when workers receive “trauma leave” — paid time off after traumatic workplace incidents — but the county didn’t budge on that.
Local 88 also sought to increase access to paid leave for workers to handle immigration and citizenship matters for themselves or their families. The contract would allow workers to request up to 80 hours of paid leave for that purpose from an existing “catastrophic leave” program that allows workers to donate their unused vacation, holiday, or compensatory leave to their fellow employees.
Members are voting on the contract through Jan. 18.
