For More Information Contact:
Marty Douglass, 341-1879
Eugene Water & Electric Board

July 14, 2006

EWEB, union reach tentative agreement to end strike

Negotiators for the Eugene Water & Electric Board and the union representing a third of the utility’s employees have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract that would end an 11-day-old strike.

The tentative agreement between EWEB and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers was reached Friday morning during a negotiating session at a union hall in Springfield. Negotiators for both management and the union met three times since Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to end the strike that began July 4.

EWEB’s elected Board of Commissioners and the EWEB workers represented by the IBEW still must vote to ratify the contract, however. EWEB commissioners plan to meet sometime in the next week to consider accepting the contract agreement.

“We are pleased that during the last three days, the bargaining teams from both sides have been able to prioritize the remaining issues and reach a tentative settlement that is fair to the employees and EWEB ratepayers,” said EWEB General Manager Randy Berggren. “We look forward to getting these critical employees back to work as soon as possible.”

EWEB had previously agreed to pay raises of up to 12.5 percent over three years, give workers several other benefit increases, and was not proposing any rollbacks or reductions in benefits. The union went on strike for better health care coverage, retroactive pay and an additional holiday.

The tentative agreement addresses two of the three issues the IBEW went on strike over: health care and holidays. EWEB agreed to lower the maximum annual out-of-pocket health care costs by a third, to $2,000 per employee and $4,000 per family. EWEB also tentatively agreed to give IBEW-represented employees Veterans’ Day as an additional holiday, beginning in 2007.

The union represents electric line technicians, construction workers, power-plant and water-treatment plant operators, mechanics, and other electric and water operations employees. Administrative staff and others, representing about two thirds of EWEB’s nearly 500 employees, are not unionized.

During the strike, EWEB primarily used supervisors and non-union employees to ensure the delivery of water and electricity to customers.