PORTLAND — The biggest union in City Hall is expected to ratify a contract proposal that includes two small pay increases.

The City Employees Benefit Association, which represents nearly 400 workers in most city departments plus nurses at the Barron Center, has tentatively agreed to a 30-month contract covering the period from Jan. 1, 2010, through mid-2012.

The contract, which is being voted on by members this week, includes no raise for the first year, a 1 percent raise for the current year and another 1 percent raise for the last six months of the contract, from Jan. 1, 2012, to June 30, 2012.

The union plans to count ballots Monday, said Dan MacDuffie, the union’s president.

The City Council will have first reading of the contract at tonight’s meeting, with a second reading and likely approval on March 7.

The talks stretched on over a year after the last contract expired, MacDuffie said, but weren’t contentious.

“With the way the economy is and the way the atmosphere is, it’s a relatively decent deal,” he said, adding that there was no pressure to conclude negotiations because union officials weren’t expecting to get agreement on a raise for the first year.

MacDuffie said the contract does not include any protection against layoffs and only minor clarifications and modifications to non-economic issues.

The deal continues the pattern of city unions agreeing to very modest — or no — pay increases.

Last July, the firefighters’ union agreed to an 18-month contract with no raises, but a pledge by the city of no layoffs. That contract runs to the end of this year.

Police agreed to a new contract in December, retroactive to last June, calling for a 1.5 percent raise in the first year and a 1 percent raise for the final six months of the contract, which also runs out at the end of the year.

That contract does not have a no-layoff pledge, but police union officials said previous reductions in the force make further layoffs unlikely.

Nicole Clegg, the city’s spokeswoman, said the newest contract agreement shows city workers are prepared to make sacrifices to help Portland in another tough budget year.

The contract, she said, “is very mindful of the financial constraints we face.”

The city has had three years of budgets with only minor increases in the tax rate. With state revenue sharing expected to fall this year, city officials say taxpayers may face higher bills, reduced services or both in the upcoming year. 

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:

emurphy@pressherald.com

 

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