Town Employees' Union Files Complaint With State Labor Board

The union representing Town Hall employees has filed a complaint with the state Board of Labor Relations, saying the Representative Town Meeting's July 26 rejection of an agreement between the union and town was based on invalid reasons.

The complaint filed by Barbara Resnick, an attorney representing The United Public Service Employees Union Unit #222, says the agreement was "not rejected for any conflicts concerning municipal law or regulations, charters or special acts as required for a rejection to be upheld" and that the union, which includes 89 town employees, "should not suffer any losses due to the conflict between the Town's bargaining representatives and the RTM."

First Selectman Ken Flatto said Tuesday that the town was seeking further negotiations with both the Town Hall employees' union and the union representing town firefighters, whose proposed contract also was voted down by the RTM on July 26. "However, the ramifications of the RTM action are still being felt by town employees," Flatto said.

"We were somewhat surprised by the filing of the unfair labor practice and obviously hope that we can avoid protracted disagreements," Flatto said.

Paul Oates, a spokesman at the state Board of Labor Relations, said Tuesday that his office hadn't received a complaint from the union representing town firefighters, several of whom staged a protest against RTM Majority Leader James Millington, R-9, over the RTM's rejection of the proposed firefighters' contract.

Flatto didn't rule out further negotiations with the firefighters' union, though he added, "There has been discussion of a preliminary step of identifying who the town and union representatives would be if it goes to arbitration...so if one party decided to go to arbitration, we'd be ready for it."

The RTM's rejection of the Town Hall employees' agreement was based, according to Resnick's complaint, on the RTM wanting all new employees in that union to be eliminated from the town's pension plan and put into a 401k plan and the RTM wanting more information about a potential 401k plan that wasn't available from town officials.

Union representatives said the dispute over the agreement between the Town Hall employees' union and the town was now in the hands of the state Labor Board and that the union was waiting for the date of a hearing, which has yet to be set.

The agreement, which had been ratified by union members, ran from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2013 and called for the town employees to receive a 0 percent salary increase from last July 1 through Dec. 31, 2010; a 1.5 percent salary increase effective Jan. 1, 2011; a 2.5 percent salary increase effective Aug. 1, 2011, and a 3.25 percent salary increase effective July 1, 2012. The cumulative salary increase over the life of the agreement totaled 7.4 percent and it also included an extra paid vacation day and a furlough day in the first six months of the agreement.

Beginning July 1, 2011, existing Town Hall employees would contribute 10 percent toward their health insurance premiums with no cap; for employees hired on or after July 1, 2011, the contribution would be 12 percent with no cap. Those figures would increase to 11 percent and 13 percent, respectively, on July 1, 2012.

Town Hall employees' medical insurance co-pays, in nearly all instances, would double July 1, 2011. Office visit co-pays would rise from $10 to $20, urgent care co-pays would rise from $25 to $50, emergency room co-pays would rise from $50 to $100, and the co-pay would rise from $10 to $20 for well child care, periodic routine health exams, routine eye exams, hearing screenings, outpatient rehabilitative services and routine OB/Gyn exams. The hospital co-pay would rise from $100 to $150.

The town also made available, on a purely optional basis, the ability to enroll in a 401k/403b retirement plan as an alternative to eligibility or vesting rights in the town's pension system.

The estimated cost of the agreement totaled $139,266 over three years, from a base cost this fiscal year of $5.2 million. The average salary of an employee in The United Public Service Employees Union Unit #222 is $50,000.

The most recent contract between the town and Town Hall employees' union, which ran from July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2010, called for the employees to receive a 3 percent salary increase in each year.