Our Contract

The collective bargaining agreement between AFSCME Local 2975 and the City of Corvallis is the document that sets your pay, your benefits, and the rules that govern your working life. It was negotiated by your coworkers, and it is enforceable.

Our new contract runs July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2031.

Members ratified it on October 22, 2026, by a vote of 152 to 12, and City Council approved it unanimously on November 2. The full text will be posted here once it is signed. Until then:  Read the highlights of the agreement (PDF) →

What's new

  • Raises every year (Article 18.1). A 2% adjustment to the whole salary schedule, plus a 4% cost-of-living increase in the pay period after ratification. Then 3% on June 16, 2027 and June 16, 2028, and 2.5% on June 16, 2029 and June 16, 2030.
  • A new Step 7 (Article 18.4). Added June 16, 2029 at 2% above Step 6, rising to 3% on June 16, 2030. Employees at Step 6 by June 16, 2028 move to Step 7 on June 16, 2029; everyone else moves up after 12 months at Step 6.
  • A $1,000 signing bonus (Article 18.1) for regular employees employed at ratification, paid before taxes and withholding.
  • Health premiums (Article 22.3). The City keeps paying 93% of the single premium through 2029. It moves to 90% with the January 1, 2030 plan year.
  • A bigger comp time bank (Article 9.5), from 64 to 80 hours.
  • Double time for a holiday callback (Article 9.7).
  • Weather and emergency closures (Article 10). If you are notified of a closure before your shift starts, you can use sick leave as well as vacation, floating holiday, comp time or leave without pay.
  • Stronger safety language (Article 30). The City may not discipline or discriminate against anyone who reports an unsafe condition in good faith, and you can ask for a review before starting a task you believe is an immediate danger.
  • Broader equal-treatment protections (Articles 5.3 and 24.3), now including gender expression, pregnancy, medical condition, injured worker status and union participation, among others.
  • Retirees returning to work (new article). A clear process for members who retire under PERS to be re-employed in their position.
  • Layoff bumping (Article 27.3) is now within your own department.
  • Vision co-insurance (Article 23) moves from $15 to $25.

What's in it

These are the articles members reach for most.

Pay

  • Article 18 — Wages. The salary schedule and the step system. Steps run 1 through 6, with Step 7 added in 2029. Under Section 18.3 you advance a step each year on a satisfactory evaluation until you reach the top of your range. If the City does not complete your evaluation within 30 days of the scheduled date, the step is granted automatically.
  • Article 20 — Special Pay. Shift premiums of 45¢ an hour when most of your shift falls between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m., and 75¢ when most of it falls between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Shift premium counts toward your base rate when overtime is calculated. Bilingual pay is 2.5% or 5% of base pay.
  • Article 21 — Acting in Capacity. If you are assigned the duties of a higher classification in writing for more than five consecutive working days, you are paid the greater of Step 1 of that class, a one-step increase, or 5% — retroactive to the first day of the assignment.
  • Article 19 — Job Classification and Wage Adjustments. How classifications get reviewed and adjusted.

Time

  • Article 9 — Hours of Work and Overtime. Workweeks, schedules, overtime, comp time, callback, standby and rest between shifts.
  • Article 10 — Leave Due to Emergency or Adverse Weather.
  • Article 14 — Leaves. Sick leave, bereavement, family leave, and the rest.
  • Article 15 — Vacation Accumulation. Accrual rates and caps.
  • Article 16 — Holidays. Which days, and how they are paid.
  • Article 11 — Rest and Meal Periods.

Your job

  • Article 24 — Posting Job Vacancies. Bargaining unit vacancies the City intends to fill must be posted and emailed to represented employees, with the title, duties, qualifications and salary range, and must stay open at least 14 calendar days. No testing or interviewing happens during that window.
  • Article 26 — Seniority. Continuous service in the bargaining unit since your last date of hire. Time in an exempt position does not count. For Park Seasonals, gaps between seasonal appointments neither add to nor break seniority.
  • Article 25 — Probationary Period.
  • Article 27 — Reduction in Force and Layoff. What happens, and in what order, if positions are cut.
  • Article 28 — Contracting Out. Before contracting out work that would reduce or eliminate a bargaining unit position, the City must notify the union and LMAT, which has 90 days to develop alternatives and report to the City Manager.

Protections

  • Article 5 — Employee Rights. Fair and impartial application of the contract, equal treatment regardless of protected status, and the right to a safe and respectful workplace.
  • Article 29 — Discipline and Discharge. Just cause. Written notice at least five business days before a proposed suspension or discharge. And the right to request union representation at any meeting about discipline, at an investigatory or work plan meeting where discipline is a realistic possibility, and at any suspension or pre-discharge hearing.
  • Article 8 — Grievance Procedure. The process for enforcing everything above, ending in arbitration before a neutral third party. It runs on deadlines, so raise concerns early.
  • Article 33 — Personnel Records. You may inspect your own file. Nothing adverse may be used against you unless it is in there, and evaluations and disciplinary actions cannot be filed without your signature — which acknowledges receipt, not agreement.
  • Article 30 — Safety.
  • Article 32 — Prevailing Benefits. No employee loses compensation or economic benefit by the signing of the agreement.

Working together

  • Article 7 — Labor Management Advisory Team. A standing committee of up to three from each side. Section 7.4 lets supervisors bring recruitment and retention problems to it, including pay for licenses and certifications a job description does not require.
  • Article 34 — Joint Labor Management Committees. Safety committees, LMAT, the Health Care Review Committee and others. No one may be penalized or rewarded for serving.
  • Article 6 — Union Representation. Stewards, and the union's right of access.

Read it yourself

This page is a guide, not a substitute. Where the summary above and the contract disagree, the contract governs.

If you have a question about how something applies to you, ask a steward or email  AFSCME2975@gmail.com . For questions about your rights on the job, Oregon AFSCME's Member Services Center is at 1-844-758-6466, weekdays 9 to 5.