The two remaining municipal bargaining groups yet to ink a new labor contract with the City of Manteca — Operating Engineers Local 3 and Technical Service Support — are staging an informational picket Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Main Street and Wetmore Street.

All seven bargaining units for the 10 years that includes police, fire and mid-management have received the same cost of living raises — 2% for 2016, 2% for 2017, 2% for 2018, 2.5% for 2019, 3% for 2020, 2% for 2021, 1% of 2022, 2% of 2023, 2% for 2024, 3% for 2025.

Keep in mind that is not all of the pay raises that city employees get. They receive pay bumps as they work throughout the years when they reach longevity marks until such time that they max out and are on top of the pay scale for their position.

They are also can receive pay increases as they successfully complete additional education and/or training.

The City Council last year commissioned an extensive salary survey as well as a classification study as the city had been having issues with securing qualified applicants for a number of positions.

The “Gallagher” study showed the city had jobs that were not named properly to align with needed skills, jobs they were paying below the survey median of other cities surveyed, and jobs they were paying at or above the survey median.

The study also verified that when it came to benefits such as health care, Manteca was in the upper echelon.

The City Council’s goal with the current negotiations — as publicly given to City Manager Toni Lundgren — was to bring all employees to the market median of the pay survey over a three-year period.

Elected officials eschewed the consultant recommendation to freeze salaries of those city workers at median or above the median until the “median” caught up with Manteca workers.

The result, as reflected in the five contracts that have been inked, was a minimum increase of at least 2 percent a year so that every one would receive an annually cost of living wage over the three-year contract.

At the same time — based on the situation of each bargaining unit such as pay compaction and being under the salary survey median — that 2 percent minimum floor would be adjusted upward until such time it brought positions up to the median.

That lead to the following for:

*Manteca Police Officers Association over the next three years annual increases of 2% then 3% then 4%. There is also a holiday in lieu of pay of 5%.

*The fire unit over the next three years annual increases of 2% then 3% then 4%. There was also a uniform allowance bump and heavy rescue team incentive.

*The Manteca public safety management received 3% for each of the next three years with fire battalion chiefs and fire marshals receiving 6% instead in the first year and police captains receiving 7% and 4.75% respectively instead in the first two years.

*The Manteca Police Employees Association received av 3 percent minimum per year for all with dispatchers getting 5%, 4%, and 4% and crime analysts/animal services workers getting 4% each year.

*Manteca Mid-management Association got a minimum of 2% and a maixumn of 7% a year depending upon the position plus there were 12 job reclassifications.

The Operating Engineers and TSS unit are still in negotiations.

The minimum for all unit members will be 2% annually.

The maximum depending on negotiations although the city has apparently indicated they prefer not to go above 7% a year for any position but that is not cast in stone.

The city’s Operating Engineers employees are split between general fund services — parks and streets maintenance and such — as well was enterprise fund services supported by ratepayers such as sewer, waste, and solid waste.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com