City of Portland Professional Workers Union

In two mediation sessions this week, CPPW stayed strong on our priorities.

TL;DR – We are still making progress, so have not reached impasse. But we are also getting much clearer on the places where the City is refusing to move and meet the needs of their workers.

New alignment with the City:

• Working out of Class –  Paid 5% for working out of class after day one.
• Overtime: Hours paid in a week count towards overtime accumulation, not just hours worked. If you work overtime one day but also take a sick day, you still get overtime pay for those hours worked over 40.
• Deferred holidays – 2 end-of-year rollover for everyone & 10 roll over for members with alternative work schedules. All deferred holidays paid out as part of City layoff package.
• Expansion of Standby pay to include BES Comms staff.
• Promotions get 5% pay increase.
• Tribal and Citizenship Leave on City paid time (similar to jury duty). Time off does not come out of accruals.
• Contract Duration – Contract ends Dec 31, 2027 (bonus: aligns with end of AFSCME 189 contract) and agree to a reopen economics, layoff protections and a few other articles that will be affected by the Classification redesign in Jan 2026.

CPPW Movement:

• Telework/Work location is still a top priority. And, the City has given us a hard no on our proposal to limit the City’s ability to control our worksite location. We have to reckon with the reality that we cannot legally strike over this issue, so our power at the bargaining table is limited to secure hybrid as standard or solidify the status quo.
• The Bargaining Team has pivoted and is focusing on putting whatever parameters around our right to maintain current telework agreements, request new agreements, and put up guardrails into the contract to delay any return to office mandates.
• CPPW has political power around telework – just like we stopped the Mayor’s in-person mandate in January, we will keep working outside the bargaining table to secure the flexibility we deserve!

No Movement:

• Economics – the City wants a 2% across the board wage increase, CPPW wants 4%. CPPW holds strong on 2% longevity pay. These increases are modest, reasonable, and have a very small impact on City budget.
• CPPW members lost nearly 2000 hours of earned vacation time this year. We are holding strong on vacation cash out for up to 40 hours a year.
• CPPW members at PBEM are working nearly 650 hours of uncompensated standby every year. PBEM is claiming poverty despite the nearly 1:1 manager to staff ratio in the bureau and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on outside contractors. This cost is around $50,000 – they can afford it! We hold firm that these are essential staff who deserve to be paid for their work!
• Performance Incentive Leave – Incentivize strong performance with additional leave of up to 40 hours each year.
• Layoff protections – The City proposed a new system based on time in current classification and seniority protections by classification within a bureau (the term ‘Bureau’ includes newly created ‘offices’ like Administrator and central services as well). CPPW pushed back to add Service Area to seniority protection placement. The City rejected this expansion.
• Protections for layoff, discipline, or management by AI software.

Next mediation session: Thursday, May 1st

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We are coming to the end of our bargaining – one way or another. As we enter this pivotal bargaining season, there are several opportunities this month to get updates on what’s happening in mediation, where we are at, where the City is at, and what we have to do to get the contract we deserve.

Our members are our greatest strength! Many of you have shown up to make your voices heard and it’s had a true impact on City leaders.

This spreadsheet shows some of the most important articles and how our position compares to what the City has stated they want.

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