La Habra : City Employees Accept Final Offer on Contract

La Habra employees who had reached an impasse with the city on labor negotiations have accepted the city’s final offer of a 4.5% salary increase, according to union officials.

“The employees are very upset and very surprised that the City Council didn’t listen to our concerns,” said Rich Brown, staff representative with the Orange County Employees Assn., which represents the city’s 30 clerical workers and 15 professional staff members.

Next week, the employees will decide whether to continue informational picketing in front of City Hall as a final protest to the last offer council members made during their meeting Tuesday night, Brown said.

City Clerk Katherine Adams said the 4.5% pay increase is retroactive to July 6.

The 4.5% raise for the clerical workers, who include clerk-typists and computer operators, is 1% more than the original offer of a 3.5% increase.

The union was asking for raises they said would bring salaries up to the county average for similar positions. For clerk-typists, for example, the union wanted a 13% increase plus a 5% cost-of-living adjustment. With the raise, clerk-typists will make $1,326 a month. The same job in other cities nets an average of $1,430, union officials said.

John O’Malley, the union official representing the 15 professional city staff members negotiating with the city, said: “They felt they did all they can, so they’re going to accept it.”