Title
Approval of Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters (UAPP), Local Union No. 412, Covering the Period of July 1, 2017 Through June 30, 2021.
Recommended Action
I move that the Council approve the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the County of Los Alamos and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters (UAPP), Local Union No. 412 , for the Period of July 1, 2017 Through June 30, 2021, and direct the County Manager to execute the Agreement on behalf of the County.
County Manager's Recommendation
The County Manager recommends that Council approve the motion as requested.
Utility Manager's Recommendation
The Utilities Manager recommends that Council approve the motion as requested.
Utilities Board Recommendation
The Utilities Board recommends that Council approve the motion as requested.
Body
Los Alamos County and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 412 entered into negotiations on April 10, 2017 for the purpose of developing a new CBA as the current Agreement is set to expire on June 30, 2017. Negotiations were conducted over a period of 5 meetings and came to a tentative agreement on May 10, 2017, with the end result being an agreement for a four-year CBA, including non-economic and economic items. The Union ratified this proposed agreement on May 10, 2017. The CBA is presented in Attachment A for the Council review.
The significant changes to the contract include:
1) There were a number of employee title changes which will not result in any promotion or pay adjustments. The title changes are: GWS Service Worker is now GWS Pipefitter, GWS Pipefitter is now GWS Sr. Pipefitter, Water Systems Operator is now Sr. Water Systems Operator, WWTP Operator is now WWTP Apprentice III. Further the following positions were removed from the contract: Meter Reader I & II and Utility Line Locator.
2) In addition to the Union providing the County with a name of the authorized steward, they will now also include a name of an alternate backup steward;
3) The Grievance Procedure language was modified to separate out the Grievance process from the Employee Discipline Process. The Employee Discipline Process is equivalent to the current County rules and regulations with the exception of allowing for a choice to either go to Arbitration or to the County Personnel Board for the appeal hearing;
4) Safety boot allowance was modified to match the current County amount and a winter work jacket/coat was added to the identified uniform articles provided to employees;
5) The call out administrative leave time matrix was replaced with language that matched the current IBEW contract language. If an employee works 16 consecutive hours they are entitled to an 8 hour consecutive rest period and if an employee works at least 2 hours between the hours of midnight and 4 am, or gets called out between 2 AM and 4 AM, they will now be eligible for an 8 hour rest period;
6) A new section was added to the Agreement that develops and defines a Certified API 1104 Gas System Welding Program with piece work compensation for defined welding projects;
7) A new section was added that recognizes that at times the County may have a need to bring in additional help to complete a project in the form of temporaries, casuals or limited term employees. The Union agrees that these individuals are not part of the collective bargaining group and that they would not be regular employees.
8) The Pay plan was modified to place all bargaining unit employees into 5 tiers such that equal level employees in each Occupational Group would receive equal pay;
9) Base pay for Year One was increased 1.0% for mostly lower tier employees and 2.0% for all other employees. In addition, in year one, alignment adjustments between 6.7% and 7.7% were further applied to two senior tier Occupational Groups;
10) A 1.0% salary increase for lower tier employees and a 2.23% salary increase for all other employees will be applied for the remaining three years of the Agreement; and
11) The current contract is a three year contract, however the parties were able to negotiate a four year contract that will begin July 1, 2017 and run through June 30, 2021.
Alternatives
The alternative is to disapprove the negotiated Agreement and direct the teams to return to the table.
Fiscal and Staff Impact/Planned Item
The FY18 costs of the Agreement are within the total approved Department of Utilities budget for FY18. Average annual salary adjustments over the remaining three years is approximately 1.84%.
Attachments
A - UAPP Agreement 2017 -2021