City Workers to Get Raise, End Union War

The union representing the city of San Diego’s 3,500 white-collar workers agreed Monday to end a bitter labor dispute with a rival union as part of an agreement that gives the white-collar workers a 9% raise over two years.

The city’s first-ever two-year contract with the Municipal Employees Assn. will give its members a 3% pay raise July 1, a 2% increase in December and a 4% increase July 1, 1989. The union’s members are mostly managers and professional employees.

In return, the union has agreed to end its attempt to win the right to represent the members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 127 until January, 1990, said City Manager John Lockwood.

In January, the Municipal Employees Assn. asked the city to hold a decertification election in an attempt to replace the AFSCME, which represents 1,700 blue-collar city workers.

The city denied that request in February, and the association sued the city, alleging it was siding with the AFSCME local by refusing to hold the decertification election. A Superior Court judge, on April 18, rejected the union’s request for an election, but the union said it planned to appeal the decision.

Monday’s agreement will end the labor war without further legal action.

The contract agreement also gives improved retirement benefits to about one-third of the association’s members and gives pay raises above the 9% to some of them.