Council approves union agreement with AFSCME workers
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The City Council has approved another collective bargaining agreement for the city, this time with the Local 418 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Bargaining Unit.
This agreement was approved during a special meeting of the City Council, held before the regularly scheduled council work session meetings on Monday night. AFSCME represents employees in the city's Department of Public Works. The agreement will last from the period of January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2029.
Following the special meeting, Mayor Kim Ecklund spoke briefly with the Post-Journal and WRFA-LP on the four-year contract.
"I do have to give credit where credit is due, both to the union itself, the internal negotiating team, meeting with both this one and the one that was approved last month started in September of last year," Ecklund said. "It's a process, definitely a work in progress until that final decision is made and passed by both the union and the administration."
Ecklund said this agreement is a win for both parties and will include some salary increases, with a minimal for the first two years to offset the no insurance increase premium for the first year, along with a few other increases in some areas. This includes a five year stipend for longevity for employees in that union. This agreement is working to bring everybody in line to equal other unions where they are at on salaries and longevity items, she said.
"I think the biggest thing that really doesn't have a huge financial impact right now, but looking long-term for the city is decreasing the amount of days an employee can retire with at the time of retirement," Ecklund said. "Not a huge savings right now, but any employee hired after January 1 will have a max of 140. It's around 200 now. So, 200 at their highest wage versus 140 at their highest wage is a significant difference in the long-term impact of the city."
Ecklund said the agreement also includes a lot of clean-up language and general contract things, with "nothing really earth shattering". She thanked the union and internal negotiating team again for getting the agreement through, noting that the city is now contract negotiation-free for a few years.