Labor negotiations has finally concluded in San Diego as City lifeguards agree to a new contract.
Back in June 2021, they didn’t agree to the new pact introduced in June 2021.
So, what has changed now?
As per the new agreement, 230 seasonal lifeguards of the San Diego city will receive their pay hiked by 2.5 percent.
On paper, the pay raise is relatively similar to what the firefighters & police officers have received – merely a 2.5 percent & 3.2 percent increase.
Still, if you compare the latest hike with other city employees, it’s quite low.
Let’s take a look:
San Diego City Employees Pay Hike [2021]
Pay hike for the next 2 years:
- Deputy City Attorneys – 12
- Blue Collar Workers – 8 Percent.
- White Collar Workers – 9 Percent.
Pay hike for next year
- Police Officers – 3.2 percent.
- Firefighters – 2.5 percent.
- San Diego lifeguards – 2.5 percent.
For detailed pay hike agreements, you can see all the Employee Organization Agreements from the official San Diego website.
Leaving all of them way over the mile, 640 city engineers have received the hike of 29 percent.
After ending a tough negotiation for San Diego lifeguards, this is what Chris Vanos (Chief steward of the labor union representing the city’s lifeguards),”Their patience and persistence paid off.”
“He further reasoned why it’s not right to compare lifeguard salaries as their duties vary by government agencies. All in all, we’re happy with the present outcome.”
Even though, there’s are limited number of cities with beach and bay lifeguards, they patrol 23 miles of ocean coastline and 18 miles of bayfront coastline.
And at the same time, they also handle the safety of boat and perform, unusual tasks, and swift water rescues.
Vanos even went ahead praising the Mayor Todd Gloria for the way he handled the navigations and 2 months later, ended the labor negotiations in favor of city lifeguards.
Now that this year’s labor negotiations are overs, Vanos is looking forward to re-open the negotiations for next year’s labor deal in the coming winter days.
As far as 2021 is concerned, total negotiated pay may cost the city roughly $100 million per year when they fully kick in.
At last, compare the city’s annual budget, which is roughly 80 % personnel costs, is $1.6 billion.