King County Teamsters -

Master Labor Agreement (MLA) bargaining between our Coalition of Unions and King County has been an extremely challenging process that has lasted for six months. 

Our union bargaining team has worked hard to incorporate the strongest possible language from the myriad of County contracts into the MLA. 

Yesterday was our last scheduled bargaining session, and although we have TA'ed many articles, we still have not reached a final tentative agreement with the County. 

The Coalition chairs, Denise Cobden (PTE 17) and Michael Gonzales (Teamsters 174), put out a brief statement today to update members on the status of bargaining. We should have a more complete update some time next week. 

KC Coalition Members --

Sept. 28 was the last scheduled bargaining session for the Master Labor Agreement (MLA) with King County. It lasted from 9 am to 7:30 pm and considerable progress was made, however, we are still far apart on several language items.

With no more meetings scheduled – at least, at this time -- the Coalition of Unions leadership will be working hard over the next few days to determine if there is a way to get through this logjam. We are hopeful and confident that we can find a path forward.

We will provide a much more detailed report later next week. If you have questions about MLA bargaining, please contact your bargaining committee member or your Union Representative.

Thank you for your service to the residents of King County.

Respectfully,

John Scearcy
Secretary-Treasurer

Members of our Local 117 union coalition team representing Teamsters at King County in MLA bargaining. 

King County Master Labor Agreement (MLA) bargaining is getting down to the wire. The county is interested in ushering any tentative agreement reached with the coalition through the county’s contract transmittal process by December 28. To meet that timeline, they have proposed wrapping up MLA negotiations by next week and small table bargaining by October 2.

Our union coalition is committed to achieving the best possible agreement on behalf of the membership based on your feedback. We are amenable to the county’s timeline, but not if it means sacrificing our priorities at the bargaining table.

Any agreement reached by our coalition and the county is subject to ratification by the individual bargaining units in the coalition. If we are able to reach an agreement with the county, we anticipate giving you the opportunity to vote on the MLA this fall.

Local 117 members have been working as a part of a broad coalition of unions to negotiate a Master Labor Agreement with King County.

We wanted to update you on the status of the Master Labor Agreement (MLA) negotiations between our coalition of unions and King County.

As you know, these negotiations started in March and have been ongoing throughout the summer. Our goal in bargaining is to consolidate the best language from contracts across the county into one general agreement that will apply to all unions in the coalition that vote to accept the MLA.

On July 29 and August 3, our coalition met, without the employer present, in caucus to discuss the county’s most recent proposals and to develop a strategy moving forward.

We are addressing issues that the membership identified, such as vacation leave, other kinds of leave (bereavement, jury duty, organ donor, donated, executive, etc.), volunteer time, holidays and eligibility, reclassification, special duty, professional development, longevity and merit pay, term-limited temps, and working out of classification.

Again, we are proposing to incorporate the strongest language found in county contracts on those issues for the purposes of the MLA.

Teamster Bargaining Committee members in King County MLA negotiations.

Our Coalition of Unions continued negotiations with the County yesterday over a Master Labor Agreement (MLA) here at our Teamsters Union hall in Tukwila.

The idea behind the MLA is to consolidate language from the various contracts countywide into one general agreement that will apply to all Unions in the Coalition that vote to accept the MLA.

You can read more about the purpose and process for MLA bargaining here.

In previous sessions, our Coalition broke into sub-committees to develop counterproposals based on specific topics that the County presented where we felt there could be some shared interests. We had sub-committees for vacation leave, other kinds of leave (bereavement, organ donor, donated, etc.), holidays and eligibility, reclassification, special duty, and working out of classification.

In yesterday’s negotiations, rank-and-file union members presented the proposals to the County that they had developed in their sub-committees and vetted through the Coalition. 

Lisa Longdon, one of our Bargaining Committee Members representing Teamsters in the Professional, Technical, and Administrative Support bargaining unit, presented on the topic of reclassification: “Members were able to tell their stories of situations that they’ve experienced and it was an eye opener to management,” said Sister Longdon.

Our presentations by sub-committee took the better part of the morning. Afterwards, the County indicated that they wanted to break early for the day.  After some discussion with Union leadership, the County agreed to continue working and ultimately presented a counterproposal on leave in the afternoon. 

We will be meeting again with the County next Thursday, June 15 at the Teamsters Union hall where the County will be giving us their full counterproposal. If you have questions, please contact your Bargaining Committee Member or your Union Representative.

For more news about what’s happening at our Union, please attend our upcoming quarterly General Membership Meeting starting at 7pm on June 15. Join us for dinner starting at 5:30pm.

Thank you for your service to the residents of King County.

Our King County Coalition of Unions met with the County again yesterday at the Teamsters hall in Tukwila to continue negotiations over a Master Labor Agreement (MLA).

With these negotiations, we are working to consolidate common language in our contracts into one general agreement that will apply to all Unions in the Coalition that vote to accept the MLA.

We also aim at setting contractual minimums for participating bargaining units to promote equity throughout the Coalition agreements.

Bargaining units that successfully ratify the MLA by the end of 2017 will receive an additional 1 percent general wage increase effective January 2018.

BARGAINING UPDATE – APRIL 20

On April 20, our Coalition team, which consists of dozens of Union Representatives and rank-and-file Union leaders, met again with the County.

In the last bargaining session on March 30, we presented our initial comprehensive proposal for the MLA. We believe our proposal strongly reflects the interests of the membership by including some of the best language from the contracts of the Coalition’s individual bargaining units.

In this meeting, the County responded with a presentation and explanation of their initial proposals. We spent a great deal of time asking clarifying questions while the County responded to our questions.

We expect that the County will finish its presentation in our next bargaining session scheduled for Thursday, May 11 at IBEW Local 46 in Kent. We have also scheduled bargaining dates for Thursday, May 18 and Thursday, May 25 at our Teamsters Hall in Tukwila.

If you have questions, please contact your Bargaining Committee member or your Union Representative.  Thank you for your service to the residents of King County.

Our King County Coalition of Unions bargaining team at the Teamsters Union hall in Tukwila.

BACKGROUND:

Our King County Coalition of Unions negotiated a Total Compensation agreement with the County last year covering basic compensation elements of your contract. The Total Comp agreement was overwhelmingly ratified by individual bargaining units within the King County Coalition of Unions.

As part of the agreement, we committed to bargain a Master Labor Agreement (MLA) basing it on the structure of the National Master Agreement between United Parcel Service (UPS) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

If we are successful in ratifying a Master Labor Agreement by the end of 2017, members of the Coalition will receive an additional 1 percent general wage increase effective January 2018.

BARGAINING UPDATE - MARCH 30:

On March 30, our Coalition of Unions met with the County to continue negotiations over a Master Labor Agreement (MLA). The MLA would consolidate language in our contracts into one general agreement that will apply to all Unions in the Coalition that vote to accept the MLA as well as setting contractual minimums for all participating bargaining units to promote internal equity throughout the Coalition agreements.

During this negotiation session, the Coalition of Unions presented an initial comprehensive proposal for the MLA that identified the priorities and interests of the various memberships. The County responded with many clarification questions geared towards fully understanding the interests behind our proposals.

After a short caucus the County expressed their appreciation for the work of the Coalition bargaining committee and shared that it is their goal to present a complete counterproposal at the next scheduled session on April 20.

We will be ready to continue negotiations and are committed to communicating our progress as we move forward.  

If you have questions, please contact your Bargaining Committee member or your Union Representative. We will have another update for you after the meeting on April 20.

Thank you for your service to the residents of King County.

The King County Coalition of Unions after their meeting on March 16. 

Our King County Coalition of Unions negotiated Total Compensation bargaining with the County last year covering basic compensation elements of your contract, which was overwhelmingly ratified by individual bargaining units within the King County Coalition of Unions.

As part of the agreement, we committed to bargain a Master Labor Agreement (MLA) based on the structure of the National Master Agreement between United Parcel Service (UPS) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. 

The idea behind the Master Labor Agreement is to consolidate language in our contracts into one general agreement that will apply to all Unions in the Coalition that vote to accept the Master Labor Agreement as well as setting contractual minimums for all participating bargaining units to promote internal equity throughout the Coalition agreements.  Additionally, some Coalition bargaining units are simultaneously bargaining their individual contracts at the “small” or individual tables.

If we are successful in ratifying a Master Labor Agreement by the end of 2017, members of the Coalition will receive an additional 1 percent general wage increase effective January 2018.

Starting in January of this year, individual bargaining units began meeting to set their priorities for their individual bargaining unit negotiations.  We met with the County in February, established ground rules for bargaining, and received and reviewed the County’s initial comprehensive proposal for a Master Labor Agreement.  Our Coalition group has met in caucus on several occasions to prioritize contract provisions that we believe belong in the Master Labor Agreement and to draft the Union’s proposal.

On March 16, our Coalition of Unions met again in caucus to finalize our initial comprehensive proposal for the MLA. We will be ready to make our presentation of that proposal in our next meeting with the County on March 30.  

If you have questions, please contact your Bargaining Committee member or your Union Representative. We will have another update for you after the meeting on March 30.

Thank you for everything that you do.

Check out the video update from Lisa Huntley and Brian Pinney, two members of our Union bargaining committee:

We are in the process of scheduling demands meetings for members at King County to discuss upcoming small table bargaining. This is your opportunity to provide feedback and set priorities as we move into bargaining. 

We have dates set for members in some units. There will be more meetings scheduled over the next few weeks. Check back soon for information about meetings for your group. Thank you! 

 If you have questions, please contact Pat Silvernale at pat.silvernale@teamsters117.org. 

We are approaching negotiations for bargaining unit specific contracts and a Master Labor Agreement for Teamsters at King County. To prepare for bargaining, we've created a contract survey so that you can provide feedback.

Please take a few minutes to complete the online contract survey here. Be sure to complete your survey by January 13.

Your thoughtful, accurate answers are an important tool for your negotiating committee to determine your priorities.

Starting in January, we will also be holding individual bargaining unit contract proposal meetings at locations across the County. This is an additional opportunity for you to provide feedback and discuss priorities as a group. We are still working to finalize the schedule for all of the meetings, but you can view most of the dates, times, and locations here. 

We encourage you to complete the survey and attend the proposal meeting. Thank you!