The Champaign County Board Labor Committee and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 900 reached a tentative contract agreement late Tuesday, narrowly averting a strike that union members had threatened to begin Wednesday morning.
The three-year proposal gives employees 3% raises in fiscal year 2025 — retroactive to Jan. 1 — and in fiscal year 2026, a $3,000 bonus, a 5% cut to health insurance premiums, lower dependent premiums, 12 weeks of paid parental leave and an extra floating holiday.
It still requires full approval from the AFSCME bargaining unit and the Champaign County Board, according to a Tuesday evening press release from Champaign County.
Roughly 250 county employees represented by AFSCME Local 900 have worked without a contract since Dec. 31, 2024. In late May, the union overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike if talks failed. The union said in a press release Monday they would walk out Wednesday if a deal was not reached by the end of Tuesday’s negotiations.
Bargaining resumed Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. and ran for more than eight hours before the deal was reached.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
“The Committee is proud to have reached a tentative agreement after a long negotiation process,” said Labor Committee Chair Emily Rodriguez. “In this time of uncertainty, we seek to ensure our County is a place where good work can be done with dignity.”
In a press release Tuesday evening, AFSCME Council 31 staff representative Natalie Nagel said the union appreciates “the hard work of the negotiators on both sides.” Nagel also acknowledged the work of a federal mediator who was present during the negotiations.
AFSCME Local 900 represents workers in the Champaign County Courthouse, Brookens Administrative Center, Highway Department, Animal Control, the Coroner’s Office and the Champaign County Jail.
Union leaders said employees will vote on the tentative contract in the coming days; the county board is expected to take it up after that vote.
