Voters Pass Collective Bargaining Cda Workers Win In Election That Brought Only 13 Percent Of Voters To Polls

City employees won the right to collective bargaining in a special election Tuesday that brought fewer than 13 percent of voters to the polls.

Unofficial results gave the collective-bargaining ordinance 1,366 “yes” votes and 965 “no” votes.

Heavy morning snow followed by a blustery afternoon kept voter turnout low, Kootenai County elections officials said.

The stormy weather didn’t keep about four dozen city workers and their supporters from taking to strategic street corners with signs encouraging people to vote “yes” on the measure. Blue and white “Yes on Initiative One” signs also sprouted in the weeks before the election that city officials twice attempted to derail in court.

For the first time, members of the Lake City Employees Association and the Coeur d’Alene Police Officers Association will be able to turn to binding arbitration when they reach an impasse with the City Council and mayor over wages and benefits. That provision was not part of the collective-bargaining law the Coeur d’Alene City Council repealed 11 months ago.

Both sides gave a positive spin to the outcome of Tuesday’s election.

“I am absolutely overwhelmed at the citizen support,” said Paula Payne, president of the Lake City Employees Association. “I’m stunned. … I cannot thank them enough.”

“I think they recognize the fact that collective bargaining is a good deal, that it’s the right thing to do.”

City Council President Nancy Sue Wallace said collective bargaining will lead to a better working relationship.

“We want to work together,” Wallace said. “Win, lose or draw we are going to have a better way to decide on wages and benefits.”

City officials have scheduled meetings with key members of the bargaining units to talk about improving negotiations. City workers’ contracts don’t expire until the fall of 2000.

Such efforts perhaps should have started soon after the council repealed the old law, Wallace said.

“I think in hindsight the city should have acted with more speed to come up with a new bargaining process,” she said.

“We were waiting for the dust to settle and when it settled there was this petition to put (collective bargaining) on the ballot.”

That was like a “line in the sand,” she said late Tuesday. Still, “I know whatever happened tonight, we are all going to be better for this election.”

Tuesday’s election may not be the last word on the new collective bargaining law.

The council seems sure to take another pass at it in court if it cannot figure out a way to get rid of binding arbitration.

Council members wouldn’t comment on a legal appeal. However, “we will discuss the legal issues this brings to the forefront,” Wallace said.

City workers are cool to the notion of another court fight. “I would hope not,” Payne said. “I would hope the city listens to the wishes of the voters.”