Council approves collective bargaining agreement

The City Council approved a collective bargaining agreement May 3 for Teamsters Local 313 that would be effective from Jan. 1, 2004 through Dec. 31, 2006. The agreement covers 112 employees. The employees will receive a 1 percent cost of living (COLA) wage increase for 2004 and a 2.5 percent COLA for 2005. The agreement also includes a COLA in 2006 of an amount equal to 100 percent of the increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the Seattle-Tacoma area, based on the June index.