The city of Billings is preparing for a potential labor strike that would take about a third of its workforce offline as early as July 1.
This week, the Teamsters Union Local 190, which represents more than 365 city workers, overwhelmingly rejected a new three-year employment contract that management called the “last, best, and final offer.”
Members also voted to authorize a strike if they can’t get a better deal by the time their current contract expires on June 30, said Jim Soumas, the Teamsters’ secretary-treasurer.
This file photo shows Teamsters Bill Darling, left, and Bill Gosnell, right, on the picket line outside of the Billings Logan Airport terminal during a strike in 2004.
The union represents workers who run various city departments and provide services, such as 911 dispatch, garbage collection, wastewater treatment, street maintenance, MET transit, the airport, the library and parks.
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With skyrocketing inflation and the cost of living on the rise in Billings, Soumas said, the Teamsters are pushing for “significant wage increases” in the new contract.
But, he said, that’s been a challenge because the city management believes 28 union members are overpaid. And, while the proposed contract would have provided a meaningful pay bump for some Teamsters, 223 workers would have received less than a 5% raise.
That doesn’t sit right with Soumas and others, especially after seeing Billings fatten paychecks for its top managers during the past few years.
The City Council in October approved a raise for Billings Administrator Chris Kukulski, bumping his annual salary up to $212,627. That’s an extra $6,192 a year for Kukulski, who oversees the city staff of about 1,100.
Kukulski said the city hired a firm in 2023 to look into pay after having trouble filling positions in the post-Covid labor market. He said Billings has since been working to bring wages up to fair and competitive rates across the board.
City Administrator Chris Kukulski is photographed in his office at his office in downtown Billings in November 2023.
The city started by bringing management pay up because wages for most of the other employees are set by contract with one of Billings’ three labor unions and can’t be changed until the agreement expires, Kukulski said.
So, the city started at the top of the organizational chart. Assistant City Administrator Kevin Iffland got a raise of about 8 % in the past two fiscal years. His annual salary went up from $187,073 in 2023 to $202,607 this year.
Likewise, pay for Billings’ other 18 top management positions have also increased by 3.7% to 19.6% in the past two fiscal years. City department directors and assistant directors are now earning between $123,186 to $183,417 a year.
