MONROE - Negotiations between AFSCME Local 3760 union and the city went smoothly, union President Catherine Kehoe said after a meeting between employees, Council 32 AFSCME representative Mike Stahl and members of the city's Salary and Personnel Committee Monday.
"Everyone was pleasantly OK with it," Kehoe said. "It went pretty respectful from all sides."
The meeting was to establish a new contract between union employees and the city. Discussion largely took place during closed session and included negotiations over wages, namely how much the figures can be increased to accommodate for cost of living. Both the union and the city initially proposed a 1.84 percent increase. Negotiations in closed session may have changed the figure, but no change was announced afterward during open session.
With the passage of the 2011 Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill, commonly referred to as Act 10, the union was limited to bargaining only for the maximum Consumer Price Index, a figure released monthly by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.
The CPI percentage reflects inflation rates and is applied as a change to hourly rates for union laborers. In previous years, the number had been decreasing. During negotiations for a contract beginning in January 2016, the CPI was 0.73 percent, in a fall from the 2015 rate of 1.57 percent. January 2017 was at 0.68 percent.
Contracts begin in January and end Dec. 31 of each year, and negotiations can begin at any point after the CPI is projected, roughly five months in advance.
In 2016, wages had to be retroactively increased by the percentage after months of negotiation between the two groups. For January 2017, the process went along more easily. This year, the talks took less than 40 minutes.
An initial union proposal requested that the city "agree to an equitable across the board base-wage increase equal to the CPI-U rate for January," which would mean a 1.84 percent increase in the hourly rate for union employees. Cost-of-living increases for non-represented employees were approved by the Monroe Common Council with the budget at the end of November.
The proposed contract from the city outlines worker positions from the Monroe Streets Department to laborers in the parks department, wastewater division, City Hall and Behring Senior Center. Wages vary from $13.11 to $23.67 per hour.
The tentative agreement still needs to be voted on by union members, but Kehoe said she has never been a part of a vote that failed. The agreement will then be considered Dec. 19, when council members vote on whether to accept it.
"Everyone was pleasantly OK with it," Kehoe said. "It went pretty respectful from all sides."
The meeting was to establish a new contract between union employees and the city. Discussion largely took place during closed session and included negotiations over wages, namely how much the figures can be increased to accommodate for cost of living. Both the union and the city initially proposed a 1.84 percent increase. Negotiations in closed session may have changed the figure, but no change was announced afterward during open session.
With the passage of the 2011 Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill, commonly referred to as Act 10, the union was limited to bargaining only for the maximum Consumer Price Index, a figure released monthly by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.
The CPI percentage reflects inflation rates and is applied as a change to hourly rates for union laborers. In previous years, the number had been decreasing. During negotiations for a contract beginning in January 2016, the CPI was 0.73 percent, in a fall from the 2015 rate of 1.57 percent. January 2017 was at 0.68 percent.
Contracts begin in January and end Dec. 31 of each year, and negotiations can begin at any point after the CPI is projected, roughly five months in advance.
In 2016, wages had to be retroactively increased by the percentage after months of negotiation between the two groups. For January 2017, the process went along more easily. This year, the talks took less than 40 minutes.
An initial union proposal requested that the city "agree to an equitable across the board base-wage increase equal to the CPI-U rate for January," which would mean a 1.84 percent increase in the hourly rate for union employees. Cost-of-living increases for non-represented employees were approved by the Monroe Common Council with the budget at the end of November.
The proposed contract from the city outlines worker positions from the Monroe Streets Department to laborers in the parks department, wastewater division, City Hall and Behring Senior Center. Wages vary from $13.11 to $23.67 per hour.
The tentative agreement still needs to be voted on by union members, but Kehoe said she has never been a part of a vote that failed. The agreement will then be considered Dec. 19, when council members vote on whether to accept it.