Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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above the $150 million. He stated that the project development team was informed that the “through arch” was within budget and subsequently voted 8:1 to recommend it. He averred that it was “commonly understood” that “such a strong endorsement” would be accepted by ODOT but it was not. He understood there would be an attempt by people in the process to urge ODOT to reconsider this decision. He hoped that the Mayor and City Council would discuss this and express an opinion to ODOT. Heidi Dotson , 2656 Windsor Circle, stated that AFSCME employees made up 17 percent of the General Fund budget and represented many of the lower-paid employees of the City. She noted that over 50 members were present, along with representatives from the Eugene/Springfield Solidarity Network (ESSN), the Teamsters, and the State and County AFSCME. She said she was participating in the bargaining process and was “loving it.” She explained that AFSCME was experiencing problems in the bargaining process because exempt employees had been given a three percent raise and management thought it was fair to give AFSCME employees the same percentage increase. She related that exempt employees made on average $30,000 more per year than the AFSCME-represented employees and a three percent increase for them was substantially less than the same increase for exempt employees. She stressed that the economic forecast for the area was not good and it was going to be challenging for employees to keep up with costs. She stated that the average salary for managers was $75,000. She noted that approximately 400 City employees fell into that category but they took up 34 percent of the General Fund, while 700 AFSCME people took up 17 percent of the General Fund. She averred that the gap between the two classes of employees was widening. Wendy Kathleen Beck , 1945 Villard Alley, said she also served on the bargaining team for AFSCME. She offered as a comparison that the Eugene Police Employee Association (EPEA) had been given a 3.5 percent increase and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) had been given a 3.8 percent increase. She stated that an average of the increases given to the markets comparable to Eugene, which included Salem, Beaverton, and Hillsboro, and Springfield and Clackamas County, was 3.5 percent. She declared that AFSCME wages were falling behind wages of the other unions within the City and, more importantly, they were falling behind the City’s comparable city and county employers. She said if the City’s AFSCME employees accepted the three percent wage increase as of July 1, they would already be behind everyone else by at least a half a percentage point. She stressed that the employees’ bills and expenses were high “right now” and for that reason employees needed a better wage increase. Daljeer Ollek , 2465 Tyler Street, president of AFSCME Local 1724, stated that he had been a City employee for 17 years. He asked the other members of AFSCME to stand and display on cards their years of service, and they did. He said AFSCME-represented the general service members of the City of Eugene and had been bargaining with the City in good faith since February. He related that bargaining was down to dollars, the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), and retirement savings benefits and it was stuck. He stated that they had been in mediation twice. It had been unsuccessful and AFSCME employees had been working without a contract since July 1. He questioned why the City was subsidizing retirement of the highest paid employees but no one else. He understood that finances were tight. He found it difficult to understand that money was not available to offer COLAs to the lowest paid employees in the face of this retirement subsidy of a two-percent deferred compensation contribution based on the exempt employees’ salaries. He pointed out that while AFSCME employees retire with the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) Tiers 1, 2, or 3, the “richest employees” of the City receive the same PERS plus the deferred compensation contribu- tion. He said the exempt employee could put one percent in deferred compensation and the City would match it with two percent. He noted that the COLAs those employees give themselves also increased this match accordingly. He related that the union had begun to see members unable to retire because of health insurance issues and had asked the City to help address this issue. He said they had looked at retirement savings accounts, but when it came to the bargaining table the managers had refused to match the two MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 22, 2008 Page 3 Regular Meeting