The Negotiations Committee met with City Representatives yesterday in hopes of drawing closer to a tentative agreement for our 2026-2029 MOU Agreement. The committee is pleased to announce that the City has revised their Winter Closure policy as a Letter of Agreement (LOA) removing its language from our main contract. Additionally, they have offered a Meet and Confer process to IAM regarding the impact of its implementation allowing us the opportunity to suggest changes and update the policy. This will begin January 2027. Most importantly however, the City is no longer proposing the Winter Closure begin this year! Instead COLB will implement the annual Winter Holiday Closure effective December 2027. No one will have to worry about being unpaid this holiday season! The City maintains that the City Manager or appropriate appointing authority will determine non-essential staff and reevaluate these statuses annually. Employees not required to work during this period will be coded as unpaid Authorized Leave and will have the option to utilize Vacation, Personal Holiday/In-lieu Holiday and Banked Time-Off. This LOA offer as it currently stands will also be effective until both sides agree to dissolve it.

As a committee, we are aware that the Winter Closure Policy is a divisive issue among our membership. The City has taken the position that the acceptance of this policy is fundamental to a tentative agreement to our 2026-2029 contract. We have made it clear to the City that the committee is unwilling to walk away from the table with an acceptance of this policy and an unfavorable general wage increase (GWI). A counter to the LOA was submitted with a counterproposal to the City’s last GWI offer stipulating that the acceptance of the LOA by IAM is contingent on their GWI offer.

The Committee also worked hard to close out several outstanding proposals. The Committee accepted a tentative agreement on the following proposals:

• Introduced during COVID, IAM has agreed to a proposal to make permanent the increase of vacation maximum accrual that expired last year. IAM employees can accrue an additional year (up to 4 years) of unused vacation hours before they cease accruing vacation time at which point the employee will need to use their vacation time to begin accruing hours again.
• A revision to the Work Schedules Article updating language referring to the City’s Employee Commute Trip Reduction Program to the City’s Employee Commute Incentive Program.
• An update in language for Professional Certification Incentive Program defining eligibility to permanent full-time employees in classifications represented by the Professional Units (Basic and Supervisory)

Counters were proposed for:

• General Wage Increase
• Winter Closure Policy (LOA)
• Higher Classification Pay

In addition, the City and IAM continue to have conversations regarding equity adjustments for Housing Authority related to federal funding requirements of their grants. We are also still in conversation regarding several provisions that would affect a myriad of issues including training, reimbursements for POST recertification, Concealed Carry Weapon (CCW) authorization, and skill pays for Special Services Officers (SSO) permanently assigned to airport.

Lastly, our 2023-2026 contract was set to expire yesterday. However, the City and IAM agreed to a temporary extension of the contract until December 31, 2026 with an intent to reach an agreement within 30 days of signature.

We are approaching the finish line. IAM will meet with the City again next week on October 7, 2026. Stay tuned as the committee works to complete negotiations and bring the finished contract to you.