Form revised February 6, 2008

FISCAL NOTE FOR NON-CAPITAL PROJECTS

Department:

Contact Person/Phone:

DOF Analyst/Phone:

Personnel

David Bracilano/4-7874

Sarah Butler/4-7929

Karen Grove/4-5805

Legislation Title:

AN ORDINANCE relating to City employment; authorizing the Mayor to sign and/or execute a collective bargaining agreement and a settlement agreement between the City of Seattle and the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, Local 32; establishing wage adjustments; and providing payment therefor.

· Summary of the Legislation:

The attached Council Bill authorizes the Mayor to sign and/or execute a collective bargaining agreement and an impacts bargaining settlement agreement between the City of Seattle and United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, Local 32 (hereafter referred to as “Local 32”).

The collective bargaining agreement covers the time period of January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2010 and is consistent with the financial terms of the Tentative Agreement between the City of Seattle and the Coalition of City Unions which was signed on October 3, 2007 (Ordinance No. 122551). The collective bargaining agreement includes salary adjustments to the Utility Service Inspector and Plumber classification series, based on the City’s business need to recruit and retain employees in these job titles. The increases to the Plumber and Utility Service Inspector series are in addition to the annual the cost of living adjustment, and are summarized in Attachment 2, identified as “United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing & Pipefitting Industry Local 32 Wage Adjustment Summary.” The Utility Service Inspectors classification series shall receive retroactive pay of 5 percent (based off of 2007 rates) for the 2007 payroll year.

The impacts bargaining settlement (Attachment 3) provided for a restructuring of the Plumber series pay scale, for an additional cost of $22,000 for 2008. Local 32 represents approximately 166 regular employees.

· Background: (Include brief description of the purpose and context of legislation and include record of previous legislation and funding history, if applicable):

The collective bargaining agreement between the City of Seattle and Local 32 expired on December 31, 2007. The City and Local 32 began negotiations in October of 2007 and came to a tentative agreement in January of 2008.

· Please check one of the following:

____ This legislation does not have any financial implications. (Stop here and delete the remainder of this document prior to saving and printing.)

__X_ This legislation has financial implications. (Please complete all relevant sections that follow.)

The employees covered by this collective bargaining agreement are a part of the Coalition of City Unions. The financial terms agreed to in the Collective Bargaining Agreement are reflected in the Coalition of City Unions’ Tentative Agreement (Ordinance No. 122551). Cost items associated with the Tentative Agreement include wages and employment benefits for the Coalition as well as non-represented employees, who have historically received equal increases in compensation. Coalition members and non-represented employee wages, not including the bargained salary adjustments, will increase by 3.8 percent in 2008, and are projected to increase by 3.5 percent in 2009 and 2.6 percent in 2010. The City will also incur costs for salary-related benefits such as pension, social security, and Medicare. Given these increases, the aggregate salary and salary-related benefits for Coalition members and non-represented employees would grow from $546.9 million in 2007 to approximately $608.4 million in 2010.

The 2008 costs of the Tentative Agreement were assumed in the development of the 2008 Proposed Budget. Costs for 2009 and beyond will be included in future biennial budgets.

As a result of impacts bargaining that resulted in a settlement agreement (Attachment 3), there is an additional cost impact of approximately $22,000 for 2008, which departments will absorb. Future costs will be considered in the development of the 2009-2010 biennial budget.

· What is the financial cost of not implementing the legislation? (Estimate the costs to the City of not implementing the legislation, including estimated costs to maintain or expand an existing facility or the cost avoidance due to replacement of an existing facility, potential conflicts with regulatory requirements, or other potential costs if the legislation is not implemented.)

Without ratification of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Local 32 employees would continue to receive wages and benefits that became effective December 27, 2006.

· What are the possible alternatives to the legislation that could achieve the same or similar objectives? (Include any potential alternatives to the proposed legislation, such as reducing fee-supported activities, identifying outside funding sources for fee-supported activities, etc.)

There are no possible alternatives to the legislation that could achieve the same or similar objectives.

· Is the legislation subject to public hearing requirements: (If yes, what public hearings have been held to date, and/or what plans are in place to hold a public hearing(s) in the future.)

· Other Issues (including long-term implications of the legislation):

No other issues.

Please list attachments to the fiscal note below:

None