Richland electrical workers claim victory in fight for more pay
After about eight months with no contract Richland city electrical workers won the wages they were looking for, according to union officials.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 77 voted to approve a three-year contract that goes through Dec. 31, 2023, said union and city officials.
The contract still needs to be approved by the city council on Sept. 21.
While the specific details of the offer were not released, Sara Langus with the union, said the main sticking point, the disparity in pay with neighboring utilities, has been ironed out.
And she said their members are happy with the outcome.
“We cannot thank the residents of Richland enough for their support during this campaign,” she said. “They truly made the difference.”
Will Power, the union’s business representative, said Richland employees lagged behind similar workers at Benton and Franklin PUDs, as well as Benton REA by as much as 7 percent.
That made it hard to attract new workers and to keep the ones that they had, he said.
While they didn’t expect to make up the entire gap, they were looking to gain ground against their neighbors.
Richland runs its own power utility and provides electricity to 23,000 customers in a 50-square-mile area. It maintains 552 miles of primary line and eight substations.
Richland linemen make $35 to $47 an hour depending on experience. Crew foremen can earn up to $54 an hour.
By comparison, Benton PUD linemen start at $35 for the first six months, but once they reach journeyman level, they make $51 an hour. Foremen make $57 an hour. And those rates increase in 2022 under the current contract.
The union’s last two-year contract ended in January and, after months of negotiations, they brought in a mediator to help reach an agreement.
After six-months, the line workers took their fight to the public. They created a website, went door to door and held informational pickets to spread their message.
That resulted in several people going to city council meetings to ask city officials to pay more.