Part-Timers Gain Benefits in Pact

The union representing part-time Anaheim Public Utilities employees, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 47, reached agreement with the city on a four-year contract earlier this week that includes provisions for health coverage and vacation pay, the first time the employees have had such benefits.

According to the agreement, the city will pay a percentage of all health benefits, calculated according to the number of hours worked by employees. For example, the city will pay 50% of the coverage for an employee who works 20 hours, or 50% of a normal work week. The agreement does not include health benefits for the workers’ families.

Part-time utility employees welcomed the news. “I’ve been paying out of my own pocket for several years,” said Dianne Giffin, 47, a customer service representative who works 25 to 30 hours a week for Anaheim Public Utilities and another 12 hours for a local newspaper. Giffin said that because neither job offers health benefits, she pays over $100 a month for asthma medication. With the new contract, those expenses should decrease to about $10 per month.

Stan Stosel, business representative for IBEW Local 47 and chief negotiator for the part-time employees, said that although the union hadn’t obtained everything it wanted, he was pleased with the agreement. The part-time workers formed a union and began negotiating over a year ago, but had a standoff with the city until recently over the issue of benefits.

Frustrated by the stalemate, Stosel appealed to the City Council on Nov. 16, reminding council members they receive medical benefits even though they are only part-time employees.

Although he couldn’t say whether his remarks had directly influenced negotiations, Stosel said the bargaining went easier after the meeting.

“Anaheim bargains very hard,” Stosel said. The hard-line approach has applied not only to part-timers, but also to full-time employees, whose wages have dropped below the median of others in the area since the early 1990s, Stosel said. But with a high turnover rate, he said that approach ultimately costs the city.

David Hill, Anaheim’s personnel director, said the city has to perform a balancing act, offering wages and benefits agreeable to employees, but at a cost that will keep the price of services reasonable.

Before the part-time Public Utility workers’ contract becomes official, the City Council must approve the conditions at its next meeting on Jan. 11.

Judy Silber can be reached at (714) 966-5988