photo by: Mike Yoder

A City of Lawrence snow plow clears lanes at the intersection on Ninth and Massachusetts streets Thursday morning, Dec. 22, 2022.

The City of Lawrence and the union representing about 100 city utilities and public works employees have approved the group’s first contract.

The employee group voted to organize under Teamsters Local Union No. 696 in October 2021, and negotiations for the contract began in January, according to a city staff memo. The contract, which was approved by city leaders and the union earlier this month, covers the next three years and includes agreements about pay raises and working conditions.

Matt Hall, secretary-treasurer and business agent for the Teamsters, said key components of the contract included rules regarding snowplow operations and an employee pay scale. Hall said the new rules regarding snowplow operations, which include limits on hours driven, benefit both the drivers and the community.

“It’s going to guarantee better safety for the employees, because they get a guaranteed 12 hours of rest, which is going to improve safety for the community as well,” Hall said.

The group includes approximately 100 full-time employees in the city’s Municipal Services and Operations Department, and is one of three employee groups to organize under the Teamsters in recent years. The MSO department was created in 2018 following the merger of the city’s utilities and public works departments, and the group includes employees who work in streets, storm water, traffic, water field operations, wastewater field operations and plant operations, according to the memo.

For snow operations, the approved contract creates a procedure for two teams to respond to snow events, according to the memo. The contract calls for each team to work 12-hour shifts during a snow operation and transition back to regular operations when the snow event ends. The contract also limits the number of required on-call shifts to one week per month, though employees may still volunteer for more on-call shifts.

The contract also includes a pay scale for 2023, 2024 and 2025 that includes 10 levels of pay for seven position categories, with each category including a set hourly rate of pay depending on the years of experience. Hall said the wage scale was very important, as the union has found inconsistencies in how much employees are paid.

“Something we found through all departments is there was no rhyme or reason for where people’s wages were,” Hall said. “Now there’s a structured, uniform wage scale in this group that people can understand where they’re at and why they’re there, and see a path of where they’re going to go to as well.”

The memo states the contract adopts the city pay scale and increases the base scale by 2.25%, which is the same general wage increase approved for the city’s non-union employees for 2023. The increase results in $499,750 in additional costs for the MSO group in 2023. The pay scale also includes a “step increase” for additional years of service, which will result in another $10,649.60 for seniority level advancement. The contract calls for increasing the wage scale a minimum of 2% in 2024 and 2025, with an agreement to reopen negotiations solely for the purposes of discussing increases before those rates are implemented. A 2% increase would cost approximately $490,000 per year for 2024 and 2025.

Other contract provisions include an agreement to pay employees overtime if they do not receive 24 hours of notice of a temporary schedule change lasting more than two days, according to the memo. There is also an agreement to pay employees working at a higher job classification for two or more days in a pay period at a higher rate for the time they are working at the higher classification. The memo states that the policy represents a potential increase in pay from the current policy, which requires employees to be paid at a higher rate if they work in a higher job classification for two weeks or more. While that and other pay-related provisions could result in additional expenses for the city, the memo states those costs are expected to be minimal.

The contract also includes procedures regarding policy changes, discipline, grievances, hours of work, overtime, seniority, introductory periods, promotions, demotions, and layoffs, among other areas. Hall said having all those particulars laid out in the contract would improve consistency and clarity for employees and the city. The Journal-World also reached out to the city for further comment on the contract but had not heard back by 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

The full contract is available as part of the Lawrence City Commission’s agenda on the city’s website.