Southern Nevada housing authority, union agree on labor deal
The Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority and its employees’ union have agreed upon the terms of a three-year contract after more than a half-year of bargaining.
Some 200 workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1107 will receive 3 percent cost-of-living raises in October, under a tentative new union contract, according to SNRHA Executive Director Chad Williams. Each employee will also receive a $2,000 bonus once the contract is ratified by the housing authority’s board and a one-time payment equal to 3 percent of their base salary in October 2019.
“The good side is it will offset the increase of medical insurance, so employees will see a little bit more in their paychecks this year,” said housing employee and union steward Byron Peterson. “I wish we could have done more for the second year and the third year.”
The bonus this year and one-time payment in 2019 will cost the housing authority about $940,000. The raises will cost about $650,000 a year.
The contract cuts costs in other areas, however.
Employees hired after Aug. 31 will not be eligible for longevity pay. Merit-based raises will be suspended through the life of the contract, according to union spokesman Sam Shaw.
Williams called the agreement a “fantastic outcome.”
“The fiscal savings this agreement brings over the next several years will position the agency to have more financial resources to invest in the transformation of our public housing communities, produce more affordable housing, process additional housing choice vouchers, and provide an increasing amount of funding resources to move families from poverty to economic self-sufficiency,” he said in a statement.
Housing authority commissioners are expected to vote on the contract at their Sept. 20 meeting. Peterson said that after the contract is ratified, SEIU will withdraw an unfair labor practice complaint it filed with Nevada’s Employee-Management Relations Board in late July.
Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.
