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WILKES-BARRE — One of the city’s four unions agreed to take off the Martin Luther King Jr. Day next year, signaling a break in an ongoing dispute with groups advocating City Hall close in observance of the federal holiday.
The city negotiated the holiday as part of the contract extension with Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 1310. Most of the union’s members work in City Hall, and it will be closed on Jan. 15, 2018.
A message left for Tom Borum, business manager of Local 1310, was not returned Wednesday.
City Administrator Ted Wampole said the union that also represents emergency medical technicians will swap the Good Friday holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“I give credit to 1310 for agreeing to do that,” Wampole said.
Even though both holidays have passed and the extension lasts until the end of the year, MLK Day will be observed going forward, he explained.
“The reason that is significant, that is now the existing contract,” Wampole said. “We go into next year and that’s the existing holiday.”
The contract with 1310 as well as those with Teamsters Local 401 and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 104 expired at the end of 2016. The city has been reluctant to enter long-term deals with the unions due to an impending budget deficit and sought concessions to ease the financial crunch.
Negotiations are ongoing with Local 401. The city is in arbitration with the Local 104, and the Police Benevolent Association’s contract runs through 2019. Negotiations for a new contract with Local 1310 should begin in four to six weeks, Wampole said.
The city agreed to a 3-percent pay raise for Local 1310 “only because we budgeted it and its gets us through the end of 2017,” Wampole said.
For years the Wilkes-Barre branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has advocated for the holiday marking the birthday of the slain civil rights leader, pointing out other municipalities in Luzerne County close for the day. The city cited the estimated $77,000 it would cost to add another paid holiday to the 12 already on the books and instead opted to hold a public ceremony at City Hall.
The local NAACP branch took a stand and put the city on notice in 2014 that the organization would not participate in City Hall programs. It hoped for a change when Mayor Tony George took office in 2016. George had promised to close City Hall on the holiday established in 1983.
A message left with attorney Guerline L. Laurore, president of the Wilkes-Barre branch, was not returned.
Angel Jirau, founder and executive director of the group Spanish Americans Leaders Serving All, applauded the agreement. He has repeatedly pressed city council for action on the holiday.
“I commend the union for taking the first step,” Jirau said, adding he hopes others will follow.