Castle Rock council settles labor dispute with city clerks
Friday, June 29, 2007 6:36 AM PDT
By Barbara LaBoe
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E-mail this articleAfter a round of mediation, the Castle Rock City Council and its new clerks union have a contract.
The council approved the contract earlier this month after agreeing to a slightly reduced signing incentive for the city's four clerks. This is the clerks first-ever contract with the city.
"We thought we already had it done (in March) but we're glad to have it done now," Brian King, the clerks' union business representative, said Wednesday. "I think everyone is satisfied."
The signing incentive was the hang-up with the previous contract in March. Then, the council approved the contract but not the attached memo outlining the incentive. Both had been accepted by the city's paid negotiator. The union cried foul and demanded mediation.
Workers, joined by other members of the Teamsters Local 58, also rallied outside City Hall in April to draw attention to their concerns.
The original contract included signing payments ranging from $456 to $768 to the four employees for a total of $2,667. The new agreement pays each employee $500, for a total of $2,000. The money is to compensate union members for the raise they would have received in January if their contract hadn't still be in negotiation, King said.
Union and city representatives met with a state Public Employee Relations Commission mediator to help resolve the signing incentive issue, King said.
The rest of the terms of the three-year contract remain the same.
The contract includes a 5 percent raise for 2007 as well as raises between 2 and 4 percent for the next two years. Workers also will get a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment each of those years and longevity bonuses that could increase their base salary. The base salaries --- with the 5 percent raise --- range from $30,576 to $38,184.
The salaries will be retroactive to April 1, the date the union ratified the original contract.
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