Our Coalition of Unions bargaining team was back at the table with King County on May 25 for total compensation contract negotiations.

Much of the day’s discussion, both in our Union caucus and across the table from the employer, focused on the County’s proposal for a “Joint Labor Agreement.” With its proposal, the County is looking to find common terms among the myriad of County contracts.

Initially, our team resisted this concept. We were concerned that streamlining contract language could compromise the unique provisions that individual unions have developed in County contracts over the years through the collective bargaining process.

When our team revisited this idea in our May 11 session, we determined we could establish some commonalities without risking important individualized aspects of our agreements. We worked through those issues and developed a counterproposal to the Joint Labor Agreement in that session.

On May 25, we presented the County with our counterproposal.  After some initial dialogue, we moved toward agreement on certain elements of the County’s proposal.

In our Union caucus, we also inventoried all of the small table issues from the various bargaining units to quantify and qualify those issues and get a sense of their importance.

We finished the session with both sides agreeing to review the possibility of a negotiations structure that would include a “master agreement” and a process for negotiating small table issues.

We are scheduled to meet again with the County on Wednesday, June 8. At that meeting, we hope to move closer to a tentative agreement that we can present to you this summer.

If you have questions, please contact your bargaining committee member or your Business Representative, Suzette Dickerson, at 206-441-4860 ext. 1232.

Thank you for your service to the residents of the County and for your membership in Teamsters 117.

Your Union Bargaining Committee:

  • Lisa Huntley, Solid Waste Division – Professional & Technical and Administrative Contract
  • Dan Fernandez, Legal Secretary, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office - PAO Contract
  • Debbie Valle, Legal Administrative Specialist, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office - PAO Contract
  • Robert Stalnaker, Security Screener, King County Sheriff’s Office - Security Screeners Contract
  • Lisa Ohlen, Customer Service Specialist III, RALS - PT&A Contract
  • Cheryl Besmer, Customer Service Specialist IV, RALS - PT&A Contract
  • Jennifer Broadus, Administrative Specialist III, Solid Waste Division - PT&A Contract
  • Cynthia Adams, Assistant Accountant, Solid Waste Division - PT&A Contract
  • Cheryl Ann Gunderson, Manager, KCIT - KCIT Managers & Supervisors Contract
  • Lisa Parriott, Supervisor, DOT - DOT Managers & Supervisors Contract
  • Brian Pinney, Inventory Purchasing Specialist III, Solid Waste Division/Cedar Hills - Joint Units Agreement
  • Stan Johnson, Utilities, Roads/Renton - Joint Units Agreement
  • Mari Jane Friel, Utilities, Roads/Fall City - Joint Units Agreement
  • Chad Clay, Wastewater Supervisor - Wastewater Mangers and Supervisors Contract