To the Residents, Businesses, Taxpayers, and Ratepayers of Friday Harbor:

The Town is in negotiations with the Guild of Pacific Northwest Employees Local 1909 for a new collective bargaining agreement for our unionized workers. While negotiations are generally private, the union recently opened negotiations to the public. It is important for our residents, businesses, taxpayers, and ratepayers to understand the Town’s perspective and what is at issue in reaching a fair contract.

We are proud of the Town’s reputation as an organization that recognizes the value of workers willing to rise before sunup to sand and plow our snow-covered streets, willing to go out in the middle of the night to repair leaking water lines, ready to help folks resolve their sewer problems, and going the extra mile to assist customers having difficulty getting their trash to the curb. Employees often stay with the Town for their entire career, retiring after 20 or even 30 years of service. This speaks volumes that we are doing something right and taking care of our team.

Because we value our employees, over the last three years we have taken measures – on our own initiative – to improve wages for our union workers:

When inflation peaked at double digits, in addition to a 5.5% cost of living adjustment, every employee received a $5,000 retention payment.

We adjusted the wage scale to be competitive with wages of their peers in like cities and towns across Washington – on average a 2% increase.

We created new positions for growth so employees can advance professionally within the organization.

As a result, 17 of the Town’s 36 employees have seen at least a 20% wage increase since 2021; of those, 15 are union workers. The top two employees who saw the greatest increase in wages (39%) are both union workers. Last year’s highest gross pay for a union worker was $108,352. Half of our union workers were paid over $80,000, and median gross pay was $80,601. The median household income for Friday Harbor is $57,885.

These figures do not include the cost of benefits, which are part of our employees’ compensation package. The Town pays 100% of healthcare premiums for every employee and most of the cost for spouses/domestic partners and children; contributes 9.11% of wages to each worker’s retirement fund; matches contributions to the equivalent of a 401(k) plan; provides 11 paid holidays plus paid vacation, personal, and sick days; and more.

The cost of these benefits is $25,000-$40,000 per employee. Adding the cost of the benefits package to their wages, the highest total compensation for a union worker last year was $143,130 (including $15,019 in overtime); the lowest total compensation for a union worker was $79,817 (including $212 in overtime).

When bargaining, the Town has to consider more than the desires of our 36 employees. We must consider the interests of our residents, businesses, taxpayers, and utility customers. Our decisions financially impact this community. While we want to be as generous as possible toward our employees, we cannot put the Town in a financial position that jeopardizes our operations or unduly burdens our ratepayers.

Town utilities are required to be self-sustaining. Any increase in operating costs must be paid by increasing taxes, raising connection fees, or imposing higher utility rates. The Town needs to balance operational increases so they can be done without implementing large increases in utility rates, knowing that some customers are struggling to live here; competing with our business community by increasing wages and benefits that many are unable to match; raiding our capital funds so that we are unable to take on much-needed capital improvements in Sewer, Water, and Streets; or depleting our equipment funds so we cannot replace aging vehicles and broken equipment or provide the tools that make work easier and safer.

We are all facing increasing costs. The Town’s operating costs have increased right along with our employees’ household expenses – higher costs for construction, fuel, labor, electricity, materials, and supplies.

The Town has offered our employees a yearly 5.72% wage increase for the next three years in the form of an annual 3.72% wage increase dependent on satisfactory job performance, plus an annual 2% cost of living adjustment. The Town will continue to pay 100% of every employee’s healthcare premiums, even as premiums have increased 7.3% over last year and will likely increase in the future.

The Town values our workforce. We care about them, their families, their work life and home-life balance. We also care about the people working and living in town, many of whom are living on less than the median household income. We care about the future residents of the affordable housing developments being built here, the hardworking people trying to run a small business here, and the vitality of this entire community.

We are confident that what we have offered our employees in pay and benefits is fair and reasonable to both them and our residents, businesses, taxpayers, and ratepayers.