Mayor Jorge Elorza today announced that the City has signed a tentative agreement for a contract with the Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 1033.
“I thank the leaders of Laborers’ Local 1033 for their commitment and cooperation throughout this process,” said Mayor Elorza. “By working together, we found innovative ways to better serve our city workforce while identifying savings and efficiencies that taxpayers deserve.”
Laborers’ Local 1033 represent public employees in city departments including City Hall, the School Department, Department of Public Works and the Parks Department, among others.
“After a long process, we were happy to reach an agreement with the City that meets our members needs and is fair to the tax payers,” said Local 1033 Business Manager Ron Coia.
The three-year agreement is cost neutral as 2% and 2.75% raises scheduled for years two and three respectively, are offset by more than $4.4 million in savings. Savings are found through innovation and more efficient management of resources, including more than $1.7 million in savings by streamlining the coordination of benefits and more than $1.1 million saved by modernizing how the city deploys substitute teacher’s assistants.
Another significant innovation contained in the agreement will allow city hall and city departments to be more responsive to the changing needs of the public. The provision gives the city the flexibility to move laborers between the Department of Public Works and the Parks Department allowing city administrators to increase their workforce to meet changing demands between the departments.
The agreement will also provide similar flexibility with the creation of a new clerical position which the city may assign to various departments based upon fluctuations in workflow.
The tentative agreement will be considered for ratification by the membership of Local 1033. Upon passage, the contract would then be sent to the City Council for ratification.