Oklahoma – Municipal Workers Join AFSCME, Win Historic First Contracts

Enid, Lawton and Tulsa, Oklahoma

More than 800 Tulsa municipal employees recently voted to have a voice with Local 1180, while some 700 employees of the cities of Enid and Lawton have become the latest municipal workers in the state to win first contracts under a 2004 law championed by AFSCME, which gave non-uniformed employees the right to organize and bargain.

The Tulsa technical and administrative office employees joined some 1,000 other Tulsa municipal workers represented by AFSCME. Oklahoma’s Public Employees Relations Board certified the new bargaining unit in May after a majority of workers submitted signed cards saying they wanted to make AFSCME their union.

In Lawton, the City Council approved a two-year contract in March covering 450 city workers represented by Local 3894, who had earlier ratified the agreement with an over whelming vote.

Their contract includes a 3-percent wage hike through 2009, a $225 signing bonus, improved vacation, a grievance procedure, binding arbitration protection and a reduced probation period for promotions.

In Enid, 255 city employees voted unanimously in February for their first agreement, which city commissioners also approved after more than a year of negotiations. The workers — members of Local 1136 — won a 7 percent across-the-board wage increase from March to July of this year, followed by a 5 percent hike in July that extends through 2009. The agreement also includes a $300 signing bonus, increased longevity pay, a performance-based, merit-pay plan, grievance procedures and arbitration protection.

These three historic victories follow the achievement last October of a first contract by some 90 employees of the city of Moore, who are represented by Local 2406.