After months of tough negotiating, and a one-day strike, the City of Prince George and its two CUPE locals have a deal.

The four-year deal includes a retroactive 0.5% signing bonus (in lieu of a 2013 increase), a 0.75% increase in 2014, and twin 2% increases in 2015 and 2016.

Details are still emerging, but it does not seem as if Prince George was successful in holding to a true “net zero” mandate. From The Citizen:

According to Bigelow, members are also happy that the new agreement didn’t get tied to the city’s preferred net-zero mandate.

However, one of the CUPE locals did trade in a sick day for other benefits, apparently:

“The [union] bargaining committee dropped one sick day per year, traded it in to help boost our benefits,” Campbell said.

The most important win for taxpayers might be the scrapping of a no-layoff clause for outside workers. This will give the City more flexibility to find savings.

It seems the contract is "net zero" for 2013 and 2014, but strays  from that in 2015 and 2016.

Nonetheless, Prince George mayor and council should be commended for working hard to get a settlement that better protects taxpayers in their city. By our calculations, this is one of, if not the lowest, municipal settlement in the province. This should encourage other city councils to hold the line on wages – the biggest chunk of any municipal budget.

While not quite a ‘net zero’ contract for all four years, it is very, very close. After the past five years of big raises for union employees – 16 per cent from 2008 to 2012 – this lower cost should offer some relief to cash-strapped taxpayers.

We look forward to Prince George mayor and council pursuing more cost savings, as outlined in their core review, and encourage them to continue to push hard to get better value for property tax dollars.