Florida: Gables Leaders Near Union Agreement
According to the Maimi Herald:
All three employee unions in Coral Gables are at odds with the city administration about future wage increases and pension contributions.
But commissioners -- briefed about negotiations Friday by the interim city manager and a labor attorney working for the city -- said that agreements with the police, fire and general employees bargaining units seemed within reach with at least two of the three.
''We seem to be very, very close to having an agreement with the fire [union],'' said Mayor Don Slesnick, who would not go into specifics about any of the deals.
The general employees union -- which won a grievance Monday against the city for a retroactive 2 percent wage increase -- is also close to agreement with the city, Slesnick said. But there is ''still much challenge on police negotiations,'' he added.
Police union negotiations -- which have been strained for years -- center on the pension plan, to which employees stopped contributing in 1987, Slesnick said on Friday. Reigning in ballooning costs for the pension -- now $24 million this year -- is a main goal of the city commission.
'The biggest issue on the table is our proposal for modifying the pension plan and their biggest thing is `what are you going to give us in return,' '' Slesnick said, adding that the commission provided some ''direction'' to the labor attorney...click to continue.
