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City, labor unions agree to contracts Monday Oct 31, 2016 at 2:00 AM Oct 31, 2016 at 9:51 AM Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune PHOENIX — Police and city workers in two separate bargaining units will assume a larger share of health insurance costs under new, three-year labor agreements with the city that were ratified last week. Employees in the two unions will pay 10 percent of insurance costs, up from 5 percent under the current contract, which expires Dec. 31. The agreements include cost-of-living adjustments of 2.5 percent in the first year and 2 percent in the following two years for the groups. The City Council ratified both agreements Oct. 24. “It’s a reasonable proposition. I don’t think the city made any unreasonable proposals,” said Brent Jensen, labor representative for the Southern Oregon branch of Teamsters Local Union No. 223, which represents both groups. “We recommend ratification to the unions, and they agreed.” A 2.5 percent increase was included in the first year so that employees on the lower end of the pay scale would not be negatively impacted by the increased health insurance pickup, said Matt Brinkley, interim city manager. Some employees would have faced pay reductions under the new heath care arrangement without a 2.5 percent increase, said Jensen. Other bargaining units he represents also have a 90-10 split on the costs, he said. The police unit includes six officers and one administrative position. The general unit includes five public works employees and three city administrative workers. Brinkley, Mayor Jeff Bellah and City Council President Bruce Sophie negotiated for the city. Negotiations began in September. Only one session was held between the city and the police representatives. Three sessions were held to reach agreement between the city and the general unit. Many provisions in the contracts remained similar to the current three-year agreement. One change in the contract, Brinkley said, requires both the city and an aggrieved union member to consider mediation in a dispute, a step not currently mandatory, before going to arbitration. ”It’s not a requirement,” said Brinkley. “Both parties have to sit down and discuss whether or not mediation would be a possible solution. It’s an intermediate step and ideally less costly.” A provision in the police contract on boot procurement was altered. The current contract calls for the city to provide boots and uniforms. Officers will get $150 per year reimbursement for boots, or they may allow it to roll over to a $300 total, said Brinkley. “We put some numbers in the contract,” said Jensen on the boot issue. It had been handled more by policy and discretion in the past, he said. Sophie said the city was happy with the outcome. “I think it kind of meets the needs in the future,” said Sophie. “The hard part, with the cost of insurance going up, was to shift the amount to be co-payed by the different individuals.” “It was relatively uneventful, which was nice,” said Jensen. “I have had some contentious ones in the past. This was not one of them.” In other business, a personnel agreement with incoming City Manager Jamie McLeod was finalized last Monday. McLeod will start Nov. 7. — Tony Boom is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected].