From Rindi White in Wasilla:
After an executive session Monday, Wasilla City Council unanimously approved a contract between the city and Wasilla Police Department employees. The employees voted earlier this year to be represented by Teamsters Local 959.
Forty-nine employees, including dispatchers, administrative support staff and officers, are represented by the union.
Wasilla City Council has approved three union contracts with city employees in the past year, including Laborers Local 341, which represents employees at the Menard Sports Center and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302, which represents city public works employees.
City voters in 2007 voted to allow city employees to unionize after police officers and other city employees mounted a campaign to overturn a 1978 decision by city council barring employees from participating in the Alaska Public Employees Relations Act. The act allows employees to join unions.
When the council decided to opt out of the act, the city employed three people: a finance director, a city clerk/treasurer and a librarian.