Regional Transportation Commission requests revised contract proposal
August 9, 2012 - 1:47 pm
After praising negotiations between union officials and collective bargaining staff, the Regional Transportation Commission sent a five-year employee contract proposal back to the drawing board Thursday.
Commissioners cited concerns about the length of the contract and the fairness of offering perks, such as cost-of-living increases and merit and longevity pay, which other local entities have cut.
Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown, who serves as the chairman of the transit board, said there were too many financial uncertainties over the next five years.
"A five-year contract in a different time would be something we could look at," Brown said. "But there's the uncertainty of the economy right now. Some people say we're moving up at a steady pace. Some say we're going to have a hit next year."
Brown said he didn't want to see the board commit to something it would not be able to fulfill.
"Let's make sure the equipment, the routes and service are back to where the customers' expectations are because that's the priority," Brown said. "We certainly want to compensate our employees fairly, but that's not the priority. The priority is customer service."
The five-year pitch was expected to save the agency about $1.3 million over five years. The proposed contract included the following:
■ Longevity pay, which would have been suspended for a year. New employees would have been eligible for longevity benefits after eight years, a perk largely absent in other employee contracts. The amount was proposed at three-tenths of 1 percent of their annual salary, about half that allowed in the last contract. Employees no longer would have been able to accrue sick leave for large payout checks when they leave.
■ Cost-of-living raises. Employees would not have received a cost-of-living increase the first year. The increase in the final four years would have been based on a three-year average of the Western Consumer Price Index.
■ Merit pay. Only employees deemed proficient on their evaluations would have been eligible for merit pay, which would have been linked to sales tax revenue, the primary funding source for the Regional Transportation Commission. If the annual sales tax revenue does not increase by 3.5 percent, no employee would have gotten merit pay. Larger revenue increases would have triggered merit pay between 3 percent and 4 percent. Under the old contract, merit was capped at 5 percent.
The commission needs a 3.49 percent increase in sales tax revenue to continue improving the transit system and buying new vehicles and equipment. The Regional Transportation Commission is projecting $154 million in sales tax revenue in fiscal year 2013. An increase of 3.5 percent would amount to $5.4 million. The 3 percent merit pay provision would cost about $500,000. Commissioners were pleased that merit pay was tied to increases in sales tax revenue.
Al Martinez, president of the Service Employees International Union which represents about 197 RTC employees, told Brown after the meeting that future talks were being tentatively scheduled for the beginning of next month.
"I think we can work something out," Martinez said.
Contact reporter Kristi Jourdan at kjourdan@reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.