PORTLAND, Ore. — The city of Portland and Portland City Laborers announced early Sunday morning that they'd tentatively agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement following 12 hours of mediation on Saturday, ending a strike that started Thursday.
The agreement will remain tentative until it's approved by Portland City Council.
"We look forward to reuniting with our colleagues and celebrating the ability to continue serving this community, together," the city and Laborers International Union of North America Local 483 (LiUNA 483) said in a joint statement.
As of Sunday morning, no details about the new contract had been released.
On Jan. 24, city workers delivered a notice of the intent to strike to the city and at midnight Thursday, Feb. 2, the workers went on strike after no agreement was reached with the city during negotiations the day before.
Negotiations between union representatives and the city had gone on for about 10 months, according to the union.
About 600 members of LiUNA Local 483 went on strike, which included workers in Portland's wastewater treatment, pollution testing, street maintenance and park ranger services.
During negotiations, the city said it had offered a 12% wage increase by July, with half of that retroactive to 2022. The increase included a 5% cost-of-living increase for each year. However, the union said it wanted the city to remove the annual cap of 5% for cost-of-living increases. The city reported it was also offering healthcare improvements, increased hours for seasonal workers and other concessions.
The new four-year collective bargaining agreement which is retroactive to July 2022, includes a minimum 13% salary increase for all PCL workers by July 1, 2023. This will include additional increases for some positions to make their pay competitive in the market.
Additional enhancements include:
- Increases to standby pay
- Dedicated length of rest period between shifts
- Wastewater premium pay improvements
- Eligibility to participate in the city's language premium program
- Addition of the Juneteenth holiday
- Increased shift premiums
- Increased annual work hours for seasonal park rangers
The agreement includes many other enhancements. Terms of the new deal can be found here.