Employees in Vancouver’s recreation department have formed a union and joined the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, with negotiations to create a contract set to begin soon, city Human Resources Director Elizabeth Gotelli said Tuesday. The new union has 37 members.

It’s just one of several ongoing and upcoming labor negotiations for the city, with the police command union possibly heading to arbitration and the contracts with three civilian unions set to expire this year.

Arbitration is the last, and binding, step in public safety negotiations, done when mediation fails. An arbitrator typically looks at salaries, benefits and other terms in comparable departments and sets the contract based on that information.

Gotelli and union leaders were unable to discuss specifics of any of the talks, citing rules that prevent them from negotiating publicly.

“What I can say, as we’ve done in the past, we’ll certainly be talking with all unions about our current budget situation,” Gotelli said. “We’ll be looking to unions to be partners with us in helping find solutions in containing costs.”

Cost-of-living raises

The city has in the past few years negotiated with many of its unions to forgo cost-of-living wage increases. AFSCME, the Office and Professional Employees International Union, the Joint Labor Coalition and the Vancouver Police Guild have all agreed in their latest contracts to give up that raise.

Ratified by the city council in March, the police guild concessions will save the city $1.1 million in 2010 and 2011, city officials said. The guild represents patrol officers, corporals and sergeants.

The city is still in mediation with the 15-member police command union and the 179-member fire suppression union. The city’s six fire officers command union members are working with an expired contract; they will go to the table after the talks with the larger firefighters union are complete.

“I would characterize (the negotiations) as productive at this time,” firefighters union President Mark Johnston said. “The mediator’s still controlling the process. She’s doing a good job trying to paint a realistic picture for both sides.”

Gotelli said that the city in the next few weeks will begin starting negotiations with AFSCME, OPEIU and the Joint Labor Coalition, which all have contracts that will expire in December.

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