Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan rejected several municipal unions’ offer of a one-year pay freeze Thursday, setting the stage for a continuing confrontation over a proposed ordinance that would limit their powers.
In a letter to representatives of the seven unions, Sullivan turned down last week's offer, which was contingent on the Anchorage Assembly indefinitely tabling Ordinance 37. The measure, which would deny local unions the right to strike, has been the topic of days of public testimony before the Assembly, much of it in opposition; a final Assembly vote on the ordinance has been delayed to March 26.
Sullivan dismissed several complaints that came up from the public, saying that bowing to those concerns would impede the city’s ability to negotiate with its workforce.
“After twenty hours of public testimony, four work sessions (with a fifth scheduled), and numerous written proposals, it appears much of the criticism from the unions is based on philosophical opposition to allowing the Assembly and the Administration to exercise more control over how contracts are negotiated,” Sullivan wrote. “Tabling this ordinance will not change that difference of opinion. Therefore, I respectfully decline to accept your proposal.”
In a point-by-point rebuttal, Sullivan says the ordinance didn’t contain a description of “managed competition” between public and private firms for city business, because it only establishes a framework for the practice. He promised that the city would incorporate other cities’ experience in successfully implementing managed competition when crafting its plan.
He also says that contrary to public testimony, nothing in the ordinance prevents workers with special certifications or training -- such as police SWAT teams, dive teams or technical employees at city utilities -- from negotiating pay enhancements.
Sullivan defends the necessity of mandating changes in the ordinance, saying that making changes across the city’s nine bargaining units through negotiation was “virtually impossible.” As an example, he cites testimony from city negotiator Lisa Arnold during the Assembly’s Ordinance 37 hearings.
“Lisa Arnold’s testimony was a great example of that: her many years of negotiating on behalf of the Municipality taught her that even something as seemingly simple as standardizing holiday schedules could not be brought to consensus,” Sullivan wrote.
In perhaps Sullivan’s most direct rebuttal to the unions’ letter, he takes issue with their claim that the Municipality had a 2012 budget surplus of $19 million to $30 million, saying that estimate included pots of money not used to negotiate union contracts.
“A quick review suggests the figure some people are using includes fund balances within the Police and Fire Medical Trust, (Heritage Land Bank) reserves, Limited Road Service Areas, etc., rather than just the five major funds,” Sullivan wrote. “These are not sources used to fund labor contracts. Again, the amount of any surplus is immaterial to the overall goals of (Ordinance 37).”
The unions which signed last week's letter to Sullivan include:
Public Employees Local 71, Laborers' International Union of North America
International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 302
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1547
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 959
Anchorage Municipal Employees Association
International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 1264
Anchorage Police Department Employees Association
Contact Chris Klint
