Research helps team hold its ground at table

There’s been a series of firsts for Winnemucca, Nev., city employees. When the independent union of about 45 employees voted to affiliate with the Nevada Classified School Employees Association (NCSEA) earlier this year, it became one of the first AFT Public Employees locals in the state.

And now Winnemucca city workers are celebrating their first AFT-negotiated contract—and more significantly, their first substantial pay increase.

“Everybody really appreciates what we did,” says Alan Smith, president of the City of Winnemucca Employees Association and a member of the bargaining team. “We asked for a lot more than we ever thought [to ask for] before.”

Under the two-year agreement, overwhelmingly ratified by the unit in early July, employees will receive 4 percent and 5 percent pay in-

creases, respectively. “In the past, employees never got anything beyond a cost-of-living adjustment,” says Dennis Ziemer, the AFT national representative who served as bargaining team spokesperson. “Most of the time they got less than a 2 percent raise.”

Management came to the table with a 1.9 percent pay increase, says Ziemer. But the union team had two important tools in its arsenal: facts and law. Armed with a budget analysis of the city’s fiscal situation conducted by AFT’s research and information services department, the union team knew the city was “sitting on a pile of cash,” Ziemer says. Moreover, under Nevada law, arbitration is binding and based on the ability to pay.

“Over the last three years, management has sat on an excess of $200,000 a year,” Ziemer says, noting that the population of Winnemucca is about 8,000. “Our team was stunned when they found out how much money they were sitting on.”

Two other big gains for city employees: eliminating the city council from the grievance process, and adding binding arbitration to the procedure. Under the new agreement, the city also will pay healthcare premium increases.

Altogether, NCSEA has organized three public employee locals since 2003, expanding its representation to nine of Nevada’s 17 counties. The addition of the public employee locals has given the union “a broader base and stronger lobbying position with the state Legislature,” says NCSEA president Mike Campbell. “The Winnemucca settlement is a start in Nevada for public employees.”

Joining Smith and Ziemer at the table were members Denise Arguello and Dusty Uriguen.