June 2026 Bargaining Update

This has been an unstable time at the City. Uncertainty of the budget, the chaos of core realignment, and being asked to do more with less. Through it all, your union has been fighting layoffs, advocating for sensible core realignment, and bargaining for a strong contract.

A contract is ultimately about stability – knowing the rules, what comes next, and what we can count on.

Your union Bargaining Team has been working to update our contract with the City for almost 150 days. Progress has slowed dramatically.

The City has made three things clear:

Mayor Wilson wants to permanently eliminate standard cost-of-living increases (COLAs) tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for everyone.
The economic package the City is offering is not equitable to what the City has negotiated with other unions.
The City is demonstrating its lack of respect for your work and expertise by rejecting longevity pay, standardized citywide standby & callback pay, and citywide seniority protections. See Bargaining Update Summary and find contract proposals on our website.

CPPW members now have to decide if we are willing to accept the Mayor’ mandate and detach our wages from inflation or fight for a contract that allows all of us to be able to thrive in the city we serve.

See slides with updates about the proposals here (6.3.2026)

On June 11th, the City agreed to move negotiations to mediation with a state mediator for the Employment Relations Board.

It can take time to get assigned a mediator, CPPW Bargaining Team is ready and prepared to work with the City at any time to settle a strong contract!

What’s Next? Sign the Strike Pledge to help settle this contract!

2026 Bargaining Timeline

CPPW Bargaining Reopener Timeline

Prepare for bargaining

We won our first contract by organizing together. Now it’s open again. Four articles are open for bargaining: Article 16-Wages, Article 22-Reductions in Workforce & Layoffs, Article 24-Hours of Work, and Article 27-Standby and Callback Pay.

Direct bargaining

Parties meet to review proposals with a legal obligation to bargain for at least 150 days in attempt to reach an agreement.

Mediation – we are here

If the parties do not reach agreement after 150 days, either party can initiate the mediation process. Mediation lasts a minimum of 15 days.

Impasse

If an agreement isn’t reached during mediation, either party can declare an impasse. Within 7 days of impasse, both parties must submit their final contract oﬀers to the mediator.

Cooling off period

A 30-day cooling-oﬀ period follows the publication of the final oﬀers. During this time, the parties may continue to resolve disputes.

CPPW can strike

If no agreement is reached to this point, the City can implement its final proposal without union approval. And, CPPW can strike to demand a better contract than the City’s final oﬀer.

Notes

A “Bargaining Reopener” follows the same steps and timeline as bargaining, following the rules laid out in the Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA). Tentative Agreement can be reached at any time. Then, City Council and CPPW card-signed members will vote to ratify or reject the contract.

Bargaining Update – 4/25 Mediation Session

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

Group photo of CPPW members at the 4/23 Practice Picket event, outside City Hall. — CPPW and community members, 4/23 Practice Picket

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

Bargaining Update – April 2025

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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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