Las Vegas NowCity and Union Reach Cost Saving Deal

City and Union Reach Cost Saving Deal

Officials from the City of Las Vegas say they're in bad shape, predicting the city will have a $150 million shortfall over the next five years if changes aren't made, and the thought of more layoffs isn't sitting well with anyone.

So City Council members and members of the city's employees union made a decision that could prevent future job losses.

Union leaders say they knew some sort of compromise was going to have to be made on both sides in order to keep their members from losing their jobs. So they agreed that their cost of living raise could be cut over the next five years.

Leaders of the Las Vegas City Employee's Association says 91-percent of their members agreed to the changes, understanding that without this concession, more layoffs were possible.

Under the new agreement, their 3-percent cost of living raises will go down to 2-percent. CEA represents about 1,600 city employees.

The city estimates this change to the agreement will save them close to $23 million over the next five years.

Mayor Oscar Goodman says he's grateful to the union, realizing they didn't have to open up negotiations, "They don't want to see their fellow workers laid off. We were going to layoff 5- percent if we didn't do this. This is what I told the folks and brought them to the bargaining table. So it wasn't a threat but a feeling of camaraderie."

The city can still choose to layoff employees, but under the contract, they can only layoff if certain economic triggers are met.

They did not get into the specifics about those triggers.

CEA is not the only union with the city. Firefighters, city marshals and detention officers are still in talks with the city about also possibly changing their contracts to help the city out.

The City also voted in favor of a voluntary separation program. Full- time employees can leave their job and will be paid out depending on how long they've been with the city. The maximum anyone can get paid is $40,000.