Des Moines Metro Waste Authority reaches settlement, contract agreement with employees

A lawsuit filed by the union representing employees at the Metro Waste Authority has been settled after the agency gave long-delayed approval to a three-year contract it negotiated, then ― according to the union ― tried to replace with a one-year pact.

The suit filed by the Central Iowa Landfill Employees Council said its members had ratified the agreement in March to replace a contract that expired June 30.

The MWA board finally approved the contract at an Oct. 18 meeting.

While not directly answering why the contract had not been voted on earlier, Executive Director Mike McCoy said the landfill has remained focused on doing the right thing for its employees and their families.

"The agency does not need a written agreement to do what's right for staff, which is why we asked our Board of Directors to approve a raise retroactive to July 1 and have continued to uphold the terms of the contract throughout these proceedings," said McCoy.

Terms of the pact call for employees to receive 3% pay raises in each of the three years of the contract, according to Tom Hayes, secretary-treasurer of Construction and Public Employee Local 177.

In its now-dismissed lawsuit, the union accused MWA of “consistently failing and refusing to comply with its legal obligations to negotiate and ratify the tentative agreement” members had approved earlier in the year.

The suit says Matthew Brick, an attorney negotiating on behalf of MWA, had presented the union in March with two contract options: 3% annual raises for three years or 3% annual raises for five years.

Although initially favoring the five-year option, the union agreed to the three-year agreement, as favored by MWA.

The union says it ultimately ratified three different versions of the contract at MWA's request before the June 30 cutoff. Despite this, it alleged, MWA reneged on the agreement, falsely told employees they would not get raises because union had failed to approve an agreement, and on July 19 unilaterally approved a one-year contract that had not been negotiated with the union.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: MWA board finally approves contract with union pending since March