Cedar Rapids, city employee unions complete three-year deal

The city of Cedar Rapids has agreed to new contracts with its six main employee bargaining units, and contracts with two small bargaining units of employees at The Eastern Iowa Airport are ready to be finalized, Conni Huber, the city's human resources director, reports.

All the finalized contracts are three-year ones and call for wage increases of 2 percent in each of the three years of the contracts.

The contracts require employees to pay up to 10 percent of their health insurance premiums, though their share of the premium costs is reduced if they participate in an employee wellness program. By way of comparison, Gov. Terry Branstad has been an advocate for trying to get state employees to pay 20 percent of their health insurance costs.

All of the city contracts were agreed to without the need for fact-finding, mediation or arbitration.

Mayor Ron Corbett on Wednesday said the long-term contracts provide "stability" for city employees and "predictability" for city leaders and the city's finances. The annual 2 percent wage increases are in line with raises in the private sector, the mayor said.

"This is good for the community," Corbett said. "We don't need labor unrest."