The ASEA Contract Negotiating Committee has submitted most of its proposals for a new employee contract to state negotiators and will shift gears soon for unified negotiations over wages and health benefit contributions.

The union bargaining team met with administration representatives Dec. 8-11 and Dec. 15-17 to conclude the presentation of non-monetary proposals. During the two sessions, the union and the state have come to tentative agreement on four contract articles.

The pace of negotiations has frustrated some CNC members. “I’m a little bit concerned about the lack of progress,” said Rob Miller, CNC Southeast Region representative. “We’re less than three months away from the Legislature’s deadline for a monetary agreement. Every wasted day works against the union and favors the administration.”

In light of the upcoming March 12, 2004 deadline for a monetary agreement, the union bargaining team will present its last proposal to the state negotiators during the next contract negotiating session on Jan. 7-8.

ASEA Chief Negotiator Jim Duncan has requested that the administration honor the deadline set by the Legislature. “I know you understand the importance of moving negotiations forward in a timely manner to give us every opportunity to reach a tentative agreement,” he wrote to Kent Durand, Labor Relations Specialist representing the state in negotiations. “The Union is committed to doing that as shown by the fact we have our identified contract proposals on the bargaining table.”

“It’s very slow. There are quite a few articles they [state negotiators] haven’t made proposals on,” said Northern Region Representative Lisa Harbo. “We’ve got a few tentative agreements, but they’re mostly status quo.”

The two parties have tentatively agreed to Articles 6 (Nondiscrimination & Affirmative Action), Article 7 (Labor-Management Committees), and Article 14 (Notice of Discipline & Discharge) without change. A tentative agreement on Article 9 (Nonpermanent Appointments) took place after incorporating an existing Letter of Agreement that allows increased benefits for long-term nonpermanent employees.

Contract terms governing wages and employer contributions will likely dominate negotiations as a deadline approached for presenting a tentative agreement over monetary terms to the Legislature. The state has already presented union negotiators with a salary analysis suggesting that state employees are not due a wage increase.

Initial reviews of the study, prepared by a California firm, point toward bias in the sample and method. “They’ve made a cost of living comparison between Anchorage and Puget Sound excluding Seattle to show state employees are overpaid by 12 to 17%,” said CNC member Rob Miller.

The state’s analysis compares the most affordable region in Alaska with a region of high unemployment in Washington State. In response, ASEA and other unions in the unified bargaining coalition have hired an Alaskan firm, Information Insights, to conduct a salary study of public employees within the state.

In addition to challenging the salary study, the union has taken the state to task for its unwillingness to bargain outside of Juneau. Charges of Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) were filed with the Alaska Labor Relations Agency (ALRA) against the state, citing that its chief negotiator, Labor Relations Analyst Kent Durand, “refused to modify the Employer’s location for negotiations despite the unfairness and unequal burden of costs that ASEA would bear if all negotiations were held in Juneau.”

“Meeting only in Juneau is a practice the state has adopted to unfairly run down union resources,” said Central Region representative Toya Winton. “We’re filing the ULP now, hoping it will give them enough time to wake up and smell the coffee.”

The union is seeking remedies including reimbursement for disproportionate costs due to the administration’s inflexibility and public notice by the state that it has engaged in bad faith bargaining, interference, and discouraging union membership.

“We’re a very strong team that’s adamant about defending the rights of members,” Winton said.