New contract boosts SUB workers' wages.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - Union workers at Springfield Utility Board will see wage increases of between 15 percent and 30 percent over the next five years under a new contract ratified earlier this week.

The contract, effective May 1, also includes "spot adjustments" for 25 workers in job classifications that pay below market wages, adds Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday, and includes several improvements to workers' health benefits and work policies.

"I feel this new contract is an amazing win for SUB employees," Lonnie Benham, a water division union shop steward and bargaining team member, said in a prepared statement. "You walk away feeling that SUB management really does care about employee retention."

Line technicians will see their hourly wage climb to $34.53 in the first year of the new contract, up from the current $32.17. The increase reflects a 3.2 percent cost-of-living increase and a one-time spot wage adjustment.

The wages are comparable to what Eugene Water & Electric Board employees negotiated a year ago in a new contract ratified after an 11-day strike. For example, EWEB line technicians will see their hourly wage climb next month to $34.33 - or 20 cents less than SUB's new wage.

SUB's new contract will not require an increase in water or utility rates, officials said. First-year additional costs tied to the new contract have been pegged at $174,500.

SUB managers and workers represented by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 659 needed only three bargaining sessions to hammer out the new contract. SUB's elected board unanimously approved the contract March 7, and union members endorsed the pact Monday by "a large majority," said Kevin Carpenter, assistant business manager with the statewide IBEW local.

Eighty-five of SUB's 136 employees are covered by the union. SUB workers have been represented by IBEW since the utility's inception in 1950.

The new SUB contract succeeds a four-year contract that expires at the end of April; like the existing contract, the new pact guarantees annual cost-of-living increases of between 3 percent and 6 percent that are tied to a regional consumer price index. The new contract is for five years but allows for a review of wages after three years.

SUB workers will now receive 11 paid holidays a year, in addition to an eight-hour "floating holiday," a net increase of one paid day off.

Improved benefits include having SUB cover 80 percent rather than 75 percent of the cost of health care premiums for employees' family members. The new contract includes no take-backs in benefits coverage. Union workers can now also choose between receiving overtime pay or taking "comp time" when working more than 40 hours a week.

SUB officials cited open communication and mutual respect as keys to successful bargaining. "We have a labor management team that meets quarterly to discuss issues that come up, so we generally get things resolved there," utility spokeswoman Meredith Clark said. "We don't have a large build-up of issues by the time negotiations come around."

The main issues in last year's contract dispute between EWEB and the union local were employees' maximum out-of-pocket medical expenses, retroactive pay and Veterans Day as a paid holiday.

Out-of-pocket medical expenses were not an issue in bargaining at SUB, Clark said, nor was retroactive pay because a new contract was ratified prior to the old one expiring. SUB workers already enjoyed Veterans Day as a paid holiday.

Workers at both SUB and EWEB will now enjoy Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veterans Day among their 11 paid holidays, as well as a floating holiday.