EWEB workers may strike.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

The Eugene Water & Electric Board's unionized electrical workers could legally go on strike May 19 if upcoming sessions with a state mediator fail to produce a new contract.

Utility officials declared an impasse April 11, one day after employees in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers rejected management's last offer - by a margin of 83 percent to 17 percent, according to Ron Johnson, the union's assistant business manager and lead bargainer.

An initial session with state Employee Relations Board mediator Bob Nightingale is expected to be held the first or second week of May, parties for both sides said. Each side has submitted final offers to the state board.

The union local was established in 2004, and its first contract expired last Dec. 31. The union - the only one at EWEB - represents about 155 employees, including linemen; hydro project, filtration plant and steam plant workers; and water department, construction and maintenance crews.

Wages are not an issue, with the utility offering annual raises of 4.4 percent, 4 percent and 4 percent for most members, Johnson said.

Those increases would push a journeyman lineman's hourly wage from $31.62 to $35.71, keeping EWEB workers near the middle of the pack among comparative utilities, Johnson said. Some construction employees would receive annual increases of 2.5 percent.

The biggest sticking issue remains health benefits, both sides agree. Johnson said union members want to return to an earlier insurance plan with lower co-payments and deductibles, and want a say in which insurance companies are used.

EWEB spokesman Marty Douglass said the utility in its last offer proposed no cutbacks in health care benefits. He said the changes sought by the union would have a "significant" effect on total employee costs.

Other unresolved issues include:

Veterans Day as a paid holiday. Johnson said this is especially important to many union members who are veterans. EWEB says the extra paid day would cost about $60,000, and that the utility already provides generous paid time off, including comp time in lieu of overtime and unlimited sick leave accrual.

Effective date of new contract and pay increases. The union wants the new contract to be retroactive to Jan. 1. EWEB wants the new contract to begin this month. The union also wants a new contract to expire Dec. 31, 2008, while EWEB wishes to extend it to March 31, 2009.

Overtime availability. The existing contract requires employees to be available for overtime work during at least one of every four emergency outages. The union wants to modify that agree- ment.

Network assignment pay. The union wants an extra 5 percent bonus pay for employees who must work with live lines underground.

If no agreement is reached by May 18, EWEB has the option of imposing its final offer; the union, in turn, may either accept the offer or strike. The two sides have agreed to abide by the expired contract's terms until a new one is approved.

Johnson and Douglass said both sides are optimistic that an agreement can be reached prior to May 18. EWEB's elected commissioners are scheduled to review the situation in a closed session May 2.

Johnson said relations with EWEB have generally been good, with the union filing only a single grievance during the life of its initial contract.

"We've not given up, we're not on strike, we're still talking and hoping to work this out," he said. "Both sides are just flexing a little muscle."