— Representatives for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2465 say they are prepared to begin negotiating a new contract — sooner rather than later.

AFSCME representatives plan to provide notice today to the city manager and mayor, advising them of the employees’ intent to begin immediate negotiations. An AFSCME International field organizer said they hope to “have all issues settled or arbitrated” by Dec. 28.

“We intend to have general language changes and intend to follow the contract obligations to stay in the time frame of the current collective bargaining agreement,” said Matthew Jordan, who was appointed the deputy administrator of the union’s local chapter after city councilors stripped its members of their collective bargaining rights.

“This is said in fair warning that we will be bargaining in good faith to have all articles for change on the table within the first two weeks of negotiations,” Jordan states in the notice. “That will give us two weeks to negotiate or reach impasse on articles left unsettled.”

A major issue to be resolved is at what point negotiations will begin. Jordan, a majority of the city’s non-uniform employees and some councilors argue that the contract allowed to expire Oct. 31 should serve as the city’s opening offer.

But an attempt to do that Monday appears to have failed. Ward I Councilor Lee Ann Langston said she had prepared a motion after city councilors discussed the issue in an executive session. However, after councilors reconvened the regular session, there was no discussion and no motion.

“Basically, we want the substance of the contract that was put together during the past 37 years of negotiations,” Jordan said. “We want that as a beginning point — that is where things stood before they tried to steal our union from us under false pretenses.”

He listed among those false pretenses purported claims by administrators that the union lacked support among the city’s non-uniform employees. Those claims were put to rest this past week when 72 percent of eligible employees voted in the AFSCME recertification election. Of those who voted, 95 percent supported union representation.

City Attorney Roy Tucker said using the terms of the old contract as the city’s opening offer is a viable option with a couple of exceptions. At least two provisions of the former contract would require changes as a result of the budget adopted this year, he said.

One change would include references to wage scales, which were increased this year. The second, Tucker said, involves changes made to the way surplus funds from the non-uniform employees’ compensation fund are doled out.

“What we’ve done is taken away the large payouts and given it to the (non-uniform) employees through a 25-cents-an-hour raise,” Tucker said. “If the council wants to change that, it would be by a budget amendment.”

Jordan said the dispute sparked by the decision to let the AFSCME contract expire has been watched closely across the U.S.

“What we are doing here is different,” he said. “We have developed a partnership with the community and are working together for the betterment of the Muskogee.”

Reach D.E. Smoot at (918) 684-2901 or dsmoot@muskogeephoenix.com.