Naples city employees win biggest wage increase since 2008 financial crisis
The Naples City Council on Monday unanimously approved the biggest two-year wage increase since the financial crisis of 2008 for close to half of the city's employees as part of a new labor contract.
Approximately 225 unionized workers, from custodians to accountants, won a 4% raise for fiscal year 2021-22 and a 5% raise for fiscal year 2022-23. The 4% wage increase is retroactive to Oct. 1, said Russell Thomas, the city's labor and relations manager.
The increased wages and benefits will allow the city to hire and retain qualified workers and provide essential services to the community, Thomas said.
The wage increases and other increased benefits such as a $300 annual Christmas bonus, "longevity pay" and an education reimbursement program will cost the city approximately $1.4 million during the span of the two years, he said.
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Longevity pay is an incentive to reward long tenured employees – starting at 10 years – with an annual incentive that starts at $1,000 and increases by $500 every five years to a maximum incentive of $2,500, Thomas said in an email.
"This is both in recognition of the employee’s loyalty to the City of Naples, and to compensate the employee for their institutional knowledge gained over that time," he said.
The operational fund revenues of each department that has employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, will be used to pay for the wage increases, according to the city's Finance Director Gary Young.
Hector Ramos, regional coordinator with AFSCME, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Vice Mayor Terry Hutchison doesn't think it's enough. He said the city employees should receive a 15% wage increase over a three-year span instead of the proposed 9% wage increase over a two-year period.
"I think we can do better," he said.
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Councilman Gary Price said the purpose of the wage and benefit increases is to pay employees fair wages. For fiscal year 2020-21, AFSCME union members working for the city won a 2% wage increase.
"This has been a well-thought, calculated, measured approach to solving an issue of paying our people fairly. I do not think (I am comfortable) with any last minute, quick calculations, but I am always happy to find other ways to make sure we are paying our people well," he said.
Naples' pending labor negotiations
The city of Naples has three pending labor negotiations this year that would impact 116 police officers and firefighters, Thomas said.
As of November, the median annual wage of Naples' sworn officers is $75,048, nearly $8,000 more than the nation's median annual wage of police and detectives in May 2020.
The city's most recent offer to police officers would provide them with an 11% increase to their starting wages, with current employees receiving a 16% average wage increase over the next three years, said Monique Barnhart, spokeswoman with the city.
Barnhart said in an email this offer was ultimately rejected by the Fraternal Order of Police, the union representing the city's police officers, but that there was "substantial dialogue."
"The city is interested to see what the union will propose when we return to the table on Dec. 2," she said.
As for its firefighters, the city is anticipating a counterproposal from their union, the International Association of Fire Fighters, Barnhart said.
At the last meeting, the union rejected a three-year contract proposed by the city with an 8% wage increase in the first year, a 4% increase in the second and a 4% increase in the third. More than half of the labor contract has been tentatively agreed to, Barnhart said.
"However, contract articles relating to wages and retirement are still actively being negotiated," she said.
The city's police and firefighters respectively won a 2% base pay increase for fiscal year 2020-21.
In September, City Council approved a 4% salary increase for 28 supervisory city employees effective Oct. 1. More than 100 employees not included in bargaining units, except for the interim city manager and the city clerk, would receive the same wage increase, a city memorandum shows.
Contact Omar at omar.rodriguezortiz@naplesnews.com and on Twitter as @Omar_fromPR. Support his work by subscribing to Naples Daily News.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Naples employees win biggest wage increase since 2008 financial crisis
