Anchorage Assembly weighs parental leave, holiday pay updates for two unions

Anchorage firefighters and city Teamsters would gain paid parental leave of 160 to 224 hours, credit for prior service when they are rehired, and an easier standard for holiday pay under two administrative agreements now before the Anchorage Assembly. Current contract language requires employees to be in paid status for their entire shift on the workday before and the workday after a holiday. Under the change, employees would forfeit holiday pay only if they are not in paid status for at least part of the scheduled shifts immediately before and after the holiday.

The agreements amend the collective bargaining agreements with Teamsters Local 959, in effect through Dec. 31, 2026, and with the International Association of Firefighters Local 1264, in effect through June 30, 2028. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance submitted both, and they were read July 7. Anchorage Municipal Code requires Assembly ratification. It also requires a 28-day public review and comment period on the terms and economic effects before the Assembly acts.

Teamsters agreement

The Teamsters agreement amends the contract's existing paid parental leave section to reflect current municipal code. Eligible full-time employees would be awarded 160 hours of non-cashable paid parental leave for the birth of a child or a placement for adoption or foster care. The leave would be taken in weekly blocks during approved leave under the Alaska Family Leave Act or the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Unused hours are forfeited. Part-time employees receive a prorated share. Employees already taking such leave would continue uninterrupted under the new provision, without starting a new qualifying event.

The agreement also spells out when employees on modified schedules such as a 4-10 or 9-80 observe a holiday that falls on a day off. If the holiday falls on the employee's first or second day off, the preceding scheduled workday is observed as the holiday. If it falls on the third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh day off, the succeeding scheduled workday is observed.

Firefighters agreement

The firefighters agreement sets parental leave at 160 hours for 40-hour and dispatch employees and 224 hours for Kelly schedule employees, who must take it in one continuous block rather than intermittently. It also standardizes call-out pay. Kelly shift employees and dispatchers called back to a worksite would keep a three-hour overtime minimum. Employees on 40-hour schedules called on the phone to resolve work issues after their shift and before their next one would get a one-hour minimum. Tuition reimbursement, capped at $5,250 per calendar year, would expand to cover master's degree programs.

Both agreements credit regular full-time employees rehired on or after July 1, 2026, with prior years of service toward their leave accrual rate, provided they left within the previous 10 years.