Following more than two years of negotiation, the City of Manhattan Beach has finalized a three-year labor contract with the city’s police, fire and teamster unions, City Manager Dave Carmany announced Thursday.
The agreements will come before the City Council and the public at the council meeting next Wednesday for final review and approval.
The city’s newly consummated Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the Manhattan Beach Police Officers’ Association, Manhattan Beach Firefighters’ Association and Teamsters Local 911 highlight a number of significant changes that address operational needs, working conditions and some important economic impacts, Carmany said.
It also marks the city’s first introduction to a two-tier pension system to ease the unsustainable costs of employee pensions.
Under the new MOUs, new employees hired after Jan. 1, 2013 are subject to the new retirement formula mandated by the Public employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013. For police and fire unions, new members fall under “2.7% at 57” formula, and for teamsters, under the “2% at 62” formula. This will be calculated on a 36 consecutive-month period.
Police and fire employees are required to pay 5 percent of their health insurance premium beginning April. In addition, they will pay a 9-percent contribution to CalPERS for their retirement benefit, and beginning Jan. 1, 2015, begin paying an additional 3-percent for a total of 12 percent toward retirement costs.
Teamster employees will begin paying 3 percent of their health insurance premium cost this March. They will also pay a 7-percent contribution to CalPERS to fund their retirement benefit.
Under the new MOUs, Teamster employees will receive a 2.5-percent salary increase beginning March, police employees beginning next January, and fire employees beginning Jan. 1, 2015. There will be no other salary adjustments during the three-year term of the MOUs.
“The city has always maintained a great relationship with its bargaining units and we are pleased to have come to an agreement on these issues,” Carmany said. “Positive labor relations means that all parties are collaborating effectively for constructive change, and we are looking forward to continuing that in the coming years.”
Representatives of the three unions echoed Carmany’s sentiments in a joint statement:
“Our three groups worked with the city to come to these terms in good faith. We believe we have reached fair agreements.”
The city’s contracts with the three unions, signed in 2006, expired in the summer of 2011. That following December, City Council voted to extend the contract until the end of 2012.
