Workers would get a 3 percent raise this year. The union calls the health insurance agreement "the big win."
By SHANNON TAN
Published October 30, 2004
LARGO - The city reached a tentative deal Friday with the city workers' union, which had earlier declared an impasse.
The three-year deal, which must be ratified by both sides, would pay 350 city employees a 3 percent raise this year and 4 percent in each of the following two years.
The city also agreed to pay 100 percent of health insurance for single-person coverage, said Assistant City Manager Henry Schubert. The city had initially wanted those employees to pay 5 percent of the cost, or $214 a year.
"That was the big win," said Stephen Sarnoff, president of the Communication Workers of America Local 3179.
The union represents clerical employees, telecommunicators in the Police Department, and workers in the environmental services, recreation, parks and arts, and public works departments. The median wage of a full-time employee in these categories is $27,600.
The city has been negotiating with the union since June. The union had not yet sent a letter to the city formally declaring an impasse because Sarnoff wanted to ask the City Commission to reconsider its position.
The two sides also had been at odds because the city wanted to change a provision in the three-year contract to clarify when the city must represent an employee in a civil suit. Now the city will retain an attorney for an employee "sued for any actions which occurred within the scope of his employment."
The union and the city reached a compromise on the language in the clause.
The revision states that the city will defend an employee "against any civil suit for damages where it is alleged that the damages resulted from an act or omission of action in the scope of the employee's employment or function."
"We believe overall it won't have a negative impact on our members," Sarnoff said.
In May, an arbitrator ruled that the city must provide an attorney for a code enforcement officer driving a city-owned vehicle when she rear-ended another car. The city had declined to do so, saying the officer was driving under the influence of alcohol. A post-crash test estimated a blood-alcohol level of more than 0.04 percent at the time of the accident. Florida law presumes a driver with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent to be impaired.
The proposed contract is scheduled to be presented to the commission for approval Tuesday. Union members would then vote on it Nov. 8.
