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SEATTLE (AP) – The Northwest Carpenters Union says it has reached a new contractual agreement with the Associated General Contractors that will bring several thousand striking carpenters back to work in the Seattle area on Wednesday pending a vote on the deal.
Union members have been on strike since September 16, with changing pickets on some major projects.
In the Seattle Times reports in the run-up to the strike, union members rejected four previous contract proposals from the union leadership.
Carpenters who voted no on previous deals said the deals didn’t do enough to raise wages and benefits as the cost of living soared in the Seattle area.
Current carpenter wages range from $ 46.92 to $ 48.42 an hour. The latest denied offer would have increased salaries by about $ 9.40 an hour over a four-year period, along with an increase in benefits.
In a statement on its website Tuesday, the union said the new deal would increase the “total package” by $ 10.02 over three years, retroactive payments from Jan.
The deal allows members to go back to work for the time being until the contract is voted on.
Although the majority of union members voted in favor of the strike last month, many of the 12,000 union members have not quit their jobs because they work on no-strike construction sites. This includes top-class locations such as the Sound Transit Light Rail lines.
