On Monday September 26, 2011 Mayor Mike McGinn presented his 2012 proposed budget to the City Council. In a briefing to the Coalition of City Unions Budget Director, Beth Goldberg, provided information regarding the impacts associated with the proposed budget. The Coalition learned that for 2012 the City’s General Fund has an $18 million deficit. In 2013 the General Fund is a projected to have a $32.8 million deficit and for 2014 a projected $39 million deficit. As a result of the projected deficit the Mayor has proposed to eliminate a total of 155 Full-Time-Equivalency (FTE) through layoffs, reduction of hours and vacancy elimination to go into effect January 4, 2013. There were also be 43 FTE added to the budget with a net reduction of 112 FTE citywide.

There are impacts to Local 17 positions, which include a total of 13 vacancy eliminations, 12-filled positions eliminated; and 7 positions will be reduced in hours. Local 17 has requested a list of the new positions including classification title and Department.

Local 17 continues to make progress on the span of control issues in the City. The mayor proposed to cut 19 senior level positions, which represents 17% of the cuts. Since 2010 the City has eliminated a total of 110 senior level positions.

While contracting out dollars was not a representative of the savings in this year’s budget, the City has agreed to form a committee to address contracting out. It is the position of Local 17 that if contracting out can be reduced it saves jobs and money for the City. Local 17 members take pride in the work they perform doing it better and more cost effectively.

The next step in the budget process is for the City Council to examine the Mayor’s budget proposal for 2012, hold hearings for employees and the public, and make changes to the package. There are two Public Hearings scheduled for October 3, 2011 at 5:30pm in the City Council Chambers and October 26, 2011 at 5:30pm in the Council Chambers. There will also be a series of presentations made by City Departments. The final budget will be voted on and adopted on November 21, 2011 by the City Council.

Budget Update -
March 30

The Coalition of City Unions received a budget briefing from the mayor’s office this morning. The City is projecting a $16-$17 million shortfall. This means the city will be commencing a mid-year reduction process. Local 17 will be receiving a City revenue and budget forecast on April 18.

Until then, general fund departments will be assigned a 3% reduction target.  Budget decisions will be announced in early June and implemented in early July. Local 17 will be working diligently to advocate on behalf of Local 17 members during this mid-year budget review. Please stay informed by visiting this website.

Read the mid-year budget snapshot

March 8, 2011

Seattle City Council Supports Public Employee Collective Bargaining: Local 17 Lauds Efforts

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Retirement System

Retirement is a subject that is near and dear to many of us as we look forward to enjoying time in the future, some earlier than others. Over the past year with the downturn in the economy there have been growing concerns over the health of the Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System (SCERS). There have been two issues that have come about in the past few months that Local 17, with the Coalition of City Unions, has been made aware of.

Span of Control

Local 17 has been pushing the City to address the issue in many departments where we believe that they are top heavy with management, and have either multiple layers of management and/or a small ratio of people reporting to several managers. In 2009, during negotiations on details for the 2010 furloughs, the Union pressed the City to agree to review span of control issues through their budgetary process. The City agreed at the time to reduce senior level positions. Signatory parties to that agreement have convened in Labor Management Meetings and there has been an ongoing effort to identify senior level positions that do not make sense, do not meet a reasonable span of control threshold or are not appropriately classified.

In considering the 2011-2012 Budget, Local 17 and the Coalition of City Unions met with the Budget Director, Beth Goldberg, and her staff to point out positions in department organizational charts that indicate an issue of span of control or top-heavy management. The meetings took place over two days with Goldberg and a budget analyst. We engaged in conversation about the organizational charts and Goldberg agreed to consider the ideas put forth by Local 17 and other Coalition members. There would be significant cost savings for the City if they would take this issue seriously and address the span of control.

We are continuously urging the Mayor to follow through on his executive order to direct that departments eliminate 200 senior level positions, and to take the direction we provided to his Budget Director. Not only will it save money, it is part of fundamental fairness that the pain experienced at the City from budget shortfalls be shared equitably.Retirement is a subject that is near and dear to many of us as we look forward to enjoying time in the future, some earlier than others. Over the past year with the downturn in the economy there have been growing concerns over the health of the Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System (SCERS). There have been two issues that have come about in the past few months that Local 17, with the Coalition of City Unions, has been made aware of.

July 2010 - VEBA Vote Results

We want to thank the membership for participating in the VEBA vote this year. This will be in effect January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011. VEBA allows employees who are retiring to put their sick-leave cash out into an individual account that can be used for IRS-approved medical expenses. The money goes in and out of the account tax free. The results are in with the Master Agreement passing with 77.6%, the IT Agreement passing with 84% and the Municipal Court Agreement passing with 100% approval.

Demand to Bargain over Retirement

UPDATE - June 25, 2010

The Coalition of City Unions sent a letter to David Bracilano to affirm their position that any changes to the City retirement tables or payouts, such as those indicated in the June 2010 posting on the Seattle City Employees' Retirement System (SCERS) website regarding a new Mortality Table, is a mandatory subject of bargaining.

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June 14, 2010

In response to the Demand to Bargain letter, the Coalition sent to the City of Seattle, the Retirement Department has posted the following letter on their website. Changes to the Mortality have been delayed until January 2012. Local 17 and Coalition of City Unions maintains the City may not make any changes to the Retirement System without bargaining those changes with the Unions. If you have questions, call your Union Representative.

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 When Does the Contract Expire?

On December 5, 2008 members voted to put a 2% cap on any increase of retirement contributions if the pension system reaches an unfunded liability of greater than 30 years, and if the actuary, a recommendation from the retirement board, and the City Council voted to increase the contribution rate. That same vote extended the contract one additional year. All three Local 17 contracts will expire December 31, 2011.

The three contracts were extended by two addtional years when Local 17 members voted to accept a COLA in 2011-2013 without the two percent floor. The contracts were extended by two additional years, to expire on Dec. 31, 2013, when members voted to accept an agreement to receive 100 percent of the CPI formula, with a zero percent floor and no ceiling.