Wrangell’s municipal employees’ strike is over, at least for now.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Wrangell Borough officials returned to the bargaining table today. That came as the 24 striking workers went back to their jobs.
IBEW leader Dave Reaves said the union emailed Wrangell Borough officials Wednesday, asking for talks to resume.
“We’d be willing to put the unfair labor practice … in abeyance, which basically means it would be paused or put on hold if they were willing to come back and talk,” Reaves said.
The municipality agreed. Interim Borough Manager Carol Rushmore said the two sides planned to begin talks at 9 a.m. today.
She confirmed that striking workers were back on the job.
Union members went on strike June 22. That came after the union and municipality rejected each other’s final contract offers.
The main difference between the two sides is a wage increase. The borough offered 75 cents an hour, while the union proposed $2.50 an hour.
Union members left the picket line to help with several emergencies during the strike.
Reaves said electrical crews took care of two power outages.
“The first day, there was an eagle that got into some lines. The linemen responded and fixed that. That outage included the hospital,” Reaves said. “The other day there was another outage, a transformer had internal problems and a crew responded and fixed that too.”
During the strike, the municipality hired temporary workers to fill in for striking employees. About 35 managers and other non-union staff continued to work.
