Lewiston City Council OKs short extension for AFSCME talks, reopens overtime and holiday pay

The Lewiston City Council voted 5-1 on June 4 to continue negotiations with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1124 through June 25, 2025, and to reopen discussion of overtime pay rules, holiday pay and the 40-hour workweek.

The action followed more than an hour of discussion in a special meeting during which council members, city staff and union representatives debated why talks had not concluded by a May deadline and how payroll and contract language treated on-call callouts, holiday work and overtime.

"No. We would never ask you to be open. And that is certainly not our goal. Our goal is to secure a contract and move on," said Brian, a union representative, when councilors asked whether the union planned to request an open-ended extension. City Attorney Jennifer Tingano said negotiations had been hindered by inconsistent interpretations of contract language within the union’s membership and by a lack of a unified set of proposed contract language from the union negotiating team. "There was a lot of confusion," she said.

Why it matters: the collective labor agreement now due to…