Town inks contract with Public Works Union with no wage increase

The town has reached a three-year agreement with the union representing the employees at the Department of Public Works that doesn't include a wage increase for the first year of the contract.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100617/NEWS02/706179945                   # # # # Town inks contract with Public Works Union with no wage increase  •  Rutland Herald  •   By Susan Smallheer  •   Staff Writer - Published: June 17, 2010  •   SPRINGFIELD – The town has reached a three-year agreement with the union representing the employees at the Department of Public Works that doesn’t include a wage increase for the first year of the contract.  •   The three-year deal has clauses that will allow for the town and union to reopen negotiations on the wage issue in the second and third years, according to Town Manager Robert Forguites.  •   The new contract takes effect on July 1 and runs until June 30, 2013. The contract is for Local 98 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, according to Linda Rousse, the town’s personnel director, who helped negotiate the contract.  •   Forguites said there were 10 items negotiated during the contract talks, that ranged from when employees start paying the so-called agency fee and how much sidewalk snowplow drivers get paid.  •   The town manager said that the sidewalk snowplow drivers wanted the same pay as truck drivers, but instead a compromise was reached that the sidewalk plow-driver gets a 10 percent bonus during the winter months.  •   The town also agreed to allow the union members to start paying the agency fee from the first day of work. Previously, the union fee wasn’t levied until after the three-month probationary period passed successfully.  •   Other changes to the contract will allow public works employees to take Veteran’s Day off as a holiday, but without pay. The union was seeking another paid holiday, Forguites said.  •   In addition, more family members were added to the bereavement and sick-leave policy, and will include sons- and daughters-in-law and step-family members.  •   Members of the union who carry pagers will be paid an additional $75 a week for the weeks they carry the devices, Forguites said.  •   “We want to thank the union members for recognizing that the town of Springfield, as well as other towns, are having a hard time financially,” Forguites said. “I want to thank them for that.”  •   Rousse said Wednesday the town is finishing up contracts with the police and the library, and said negotiations had been completed with those two different unions.  •   She said talks have yet to start with the fire department, whose contract also expires at the end of the month. She said she expected the talks to start shortly.  •