Union Bargaining Preparation for 2025

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by Diana Moffat

What???? Our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) doesn’t even expire until June 30, 2025!

Trust me. I hear you. But labor negotiations, just like so many other things continue to evolve. One of those evolutions has been the preparation, and associated time, needed by the employer prior to that first negotiation session with the union.

And then once you actually meet with the union to begin bargaining, the Collective Bargaining process can, unfortunately, take many, many months to complete. At best, you are looking at two to five months of getting things settled. At worst, much longer! There is a distinct advantage to completing the process, if at all possible, prior to the expiration of the current CBA.

The following are recommended:

Early preparation:

  • Have your management team, your supervisors and your labor lawyer review the CBA for needed changes such as needed adjustments to language for ambiguity, past grievances, updates to the law, etc.
  • If possible, begin a compensation overview. That might be as simple as assessing if you have some indicators that you are behind the “market” or engaging someone to do a full compensation review, in consultation with your labor lawyer.
  • Try to encourage the union to come to the table early – perhaps November, December, or at the latest early January. It helps to get those dates on the calendar early before folks start leaving for holiday time off.

Advantages to early resolution:

  • If you can resolve your negotiations prior to expiration, you are not faced with any type of retroactive pay issues. This can go a long way with employee morale for both your regular and payroll employees.
  • If you have anything less than fully funded insurance premiums, you are not faced with the danger-zone of figuring out what your “status quo” obligations are under the Public Employee’s Collective Bargaining Act.
  • You can use “early resolution” to your advantage in getting a settlement.
  • If faced with a situation of non-settlement, you can get to mediation and/or arbitration/impasse shortly after expiration. By July and August, the waiting time increases. There are only three mediators for the entire State of Oregon.

Timelines:

  • Does your CBA require notice to “open” bargaining? If so, you need to meet that deadline with a notice to the union that you want to bargain for a successor CBA.
  • The required 150-day bargaining period, under the Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA), does not even begin until the initial proposals have been exchanged. Because of that, early scheduling can be a real advantage.
  • Development of your proposals should begin early on. Precise contract language is of utmost importance. The development of your proposals should be done in a very thought-out fashion, with input from supervisors to Council/Board members. This process takes time.

Developing your plan:

  • Now is the time to review your contract to identify what is working and what needs to be changed. Are there any needed legal updates? Has your labor counsel reviewed your CBA for ambiguous language? Are there any MOUs that need to be incorporated into the main CBA?
  • Now is the time to decide if you want to do a comparable analysis, in conformity with the PECBA, to assess your financial place within the market.
  • Now is the time to look at your budget projections for your limitations or wiggle room.
  • Now is the time to decide who will be your representative at the bargaining table and who will be on your bargaining team.
  • Do your City Council, County Commissioners, or Executive Board need to be advised on the process, the rules and laws that regulate Public Employee Collective Bargaining? Now is the time to schedule that training.

Current “hot” issues to consider:

  • Paid Leave Oregon (PLO) is the 10,000-pound elephant! PLO proposals have already appeared in dozens of unions’ bargaining proposals during 2024. You can be sure that the unions will continue to pursue them. There has been a lot of litigation at the ERB level. It is important for you to understand what you do and do not need to bargain with the union.
  • For your strike-permitted groups, don’t overlook HB 2930 needed modifications to your CBA language on discipline and grievance.
  • Insurance language is the still a concern for some employers. Have you reviewed the insurance language in your CBA to see how your contract stands up to potential future litigation if there are mid-term plan changes?
  • Have you reviewed your CPI index language? Many public sector employers have ambiguous CPI index language. Bargaining is the ideal time to clarify the index with specificity.

 

So, when you find yourself planning for the approach of Fall, let that remind you to begin preparing for upcoming bargaining. Preparation comes before success, even in the dictionary!