One of Baltimore's largest public employee unions has ended its three-month stalemate with the city administration, ratifying a one-year contract that provides for a 2.25 percent raise.
The 5,000 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 44 agreed to pay more for prescription drugs under the pact. In return, the city dropped its request that the workers pay 10 percent of the cost of health coverage, up from the current 6 percent.
"It's not something that we wanted to ratify," AFSCME President Glenard S. Middleton Sr. said yesterday. "We don't think it was fair."
Union leaders said members ratified the pact Sunday out of fear of possible layoffs and private companies' being hired to handle city services. A recent study of city government by business leaders made several recommendations on improving services and cutting costs.
The pay raise translates to an extra $540 per year for AFSCME-represented employees - mostly blue-collar workers - who are paid an average $24,000 a year. Under the contract, prescription drug payments by workers will rise from $4 to as much as $15 for name-brand drugs.
The City Union of Baltimore (CUB) Local 800 rejected last week an offer similar to the one accepted by AFSCME, on a 96-56 vote. The 5,000-member union has scheduled an emergency meeting with members today.
CUB leaders acknowledged yesterday that the AFSCME vote could change its negotiating landscape.
"It puts pressure on us," CUB President Sheila Jordan said. "Our members work side by side."
CUB is one of three city unions working under extended contracts, after failing to reach new agreements with the city by a June 30 deadline.
This year, the city offered 2 percent to its 1,800 firefighters, who are represented by the Baltimore Fire Officers Association and the Baltimore Firefighters Association.
The firefighters then won a 3 percent increase in arbitration, a decision the city took to the state Court of Special Appeals, opposing a clause in the contracts that requires the same percentage of pay increases for firefighters as for police officers.
Police officers gained pay increases of up to 33 percent over three years in earlier negotiations with the city. In return, the city's 3,200 police officers agreed to pay 10 percent of their health care costs, which in the past were fully paid by the city.
The AFSCME ratification came three weeks after hundreds of city workers rallied outside City Hall, protesting a letter from Mayor Martin O'Malley telling them not to expect much of a pay raise this year due to city budget woes. The city faces a projected $59 million budget deficit over the next three years.
Leaders of the city unions complained that City Council members, deputy mayors, city police and O'Malley gained significant pay raises this year. In a letter to city workers, O'Malley promised to reward them in future contracts if he is successful in attracting new city revenue by reducing crime.
In an interview yesterday, O'Malley said he "would have liked to have gained more in the health concessions" in the AFSCME contract, but that with limited resources this year, the city was unable to offer a larger pay increase as an incentive. Overall, he said, "I'm happy with it."
Yesterday, about 400 city workers held a rally at the War Memorial to protest the report by the Greater Baltimore Committee and Presidents' Roundtable on city government, "Managing for Success." Similar studies in Philadelphia and Indianapolis have led to private companies being hired to handle city services.
