The election is pushing the City Commission meeting to Wednesday, when they’ll consider a labor agreement with the Plumbers and Fitters Local No. 41, which covers five employees in three city departments–Park and Recreation, Planning and Community Development and Public Works.

The agreement includes a 3.5 increase to wages through a 3 percent cost of living adjustment and 0.5 percent market adjustment for a one-year contract, or an increase of about $10,818 for the city budget.

Labor agreements are part of budget process, city negotiates six contracts that cover bulk of employees

The departmental breakdown is: $2,149 in Park and Rec; $4,371 in planning; and $4,298 in public works, according to the city.

The previous labor agreement period was for a two-year period and expired June 30.

Proposed labor agreement for some city employees includes wage increases; longevity pay

The proposed agreement runs July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019.

Negotiating teams met on two separate occasions, in addition to numerous telephone and email exchanges over three and a half months, according to the city.

Firefighter labor agreement up for commission vote

The Plumbers and Fitters Local No. 41 members ratified the agreement in early October.

Most of the changes to the basic contract language were an attempt to make the agreement more clear and consistent, according to the city.

City approves labor agreement with Great Falls police union

Some of those updates include: clarifying the definition of temporary employee to coincide with the definition stated in the Personnel Policy Manual; not counting sick and vacation time for computing the initial 40 hour work week for overtime purposes; clarifies that sick leave donations are not available to employees in a probationary period; increased meal reimbursement to $12 per meal based on the terms of work; and updates health premiums with the city paying 90 percent and the employee paying 10 percent.