The Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis
Five separate collective bargaining agreements were approved for four-year terms by the Board of Lewis County Commissioners on Monday.
Four of the contracts are with Teamsters 252 representing the prosecutors clerical group, the assessors group, the supervisors group and a combined group. Another contract with the AFSCME 1341, representing the public service employees, which include the community development and the public works department, was also approved.
Archie Smith, with the county’s human resources department, said the financial breakdowns of the contracts are almost identical.
“What we’ve been able to do is close most of our contracts,” Smith told commissioners. “We have a few that are still open, but the majority of our collective bargaining agreements (have) a four-year deal going from 2016 to 2019.”
There are no changes for the 2016 year in wages or benefits, but effective Aug. 1 of this year, there will be a 1.5 percent base wage increase, followed by a 1 percent base wage increase in 2018 and another 1 percent increase for 2019 on all of the contracts.
For health and welfare, there will be a $50 increase to the maximum employer contribution for 2017. Then in 2018, there will be a $150 increase to that contribution, followed by a $25 increase in 2019.
The Teamsters contracts include a $50 additional payment for the 2017 year to health and welfare, while the AFSCME contract has a four-month $50 additional base wage adjustment.
The only other difference, according to Smith, is a $25 increase per year in the supervisor's contract for boot allowance, which raised the amount from $150 to $175.
The combined group also received an increase to the amount of “commendatory time” from 120 hours to 240 hours.
The county and the unions have agreed that the pay for September can take place retroactively on the Nov. 5 payroll if need be.
Along with the collective bargaining agreements, a resolution to provide a salary adjustment for nonunion employees is also set to take effect backdated to Sept. 1, 2017, which basically matches the union increases, Smith said.
Medical rates for nonunion employees and elected officials were adjusted to allow up to $1,050 per employee per month for medical and dental insurance also starting Sept. 1, 2017.
Commissioner Gary Stamper thanked Smith and the HR department for the work they completed on the agreements.
“I know one of the first meetings I sat in on, I’ve almost been here for three years now, was union negotiations and I asked ‘how long has this been going on,’ and I think you coined it ‘forever,’” Stamper said, adding he was happy to see a fair and equitable agreement was reached.
