Local News in Brief : City Workers Get Raises

Most Redondo Beach City Hall and Fire Department employees have received 4.5% raises after more than six months of labor negotiations.

The City Council approved the raises Tuesday, retroactive to July 4, as part of two-year contracts for members of the Redondo Beach Firefighters Assn. and the California League of Employees Assn., which represents clerical, paraprofessional and technical workers. The employees had worked without a contract since June 30.

Workers will get additional raises Jan. 2, ranging from 1% to 12.8%, depending on their classifications. Computer operators will get the 12.8% increases to bring their pay into line with that of comparable jobs in other South Bay cities, said Assistant City Manager Ray Griest, Redondo Beach’s negotiator.

Members of both unions will get an additional 5% raise next July.

At the low range of the California League of Employees Assn. salary schedule, monthly pay for clerks will range from $1,272 and $1,447. After the 1988 raises, clerks will receive $1,336 to $1,519. Plan checkers are the highest paid employees in the union, receiving monthly salaries between $2,672 and $3,049 now, and $2,861 and $3,266 after the 1988 increases.

Basic-rank firefighters are the lowest-paid employees in the firefighters’ union, earning from $2,198 to $2,671 a month now and from $2,393 to $2,910 after the 1988 raises. Fire captains are the highest-paid members of the union, now earning between $3,545 and $3,722, and between $3,917 and $4,113 after the increases.

Redondo Beach has settled with all its labor unions except the Police Supervisory and Management Assn., whose contract expired Sept. 30. The city and the association, which represents police captains, lieutenants and sergeants, have been negotiating for about three months and are debating salaries, Griest said.