Two Union Contracts Headed to RTM

All seven contracts with unions representing town employees expired June 30, and the town Monday night appeared to have come to terms with unions representing Town Hall employees and firefighters.

A "memorandum of agreement" with the Town Hall employees' union, which covers 89 town employees, calls for a 0 percent salary increase from July 1, 2010 to 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, from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2013, would total 7.4 percent.

The agreement, which has yet to be ratified by members of The United Public Service Employees Union Unit #222, also includes an extra paid vacation day and a furlough day in the first six months - specifically on Aug. 20 and Sept. 3.

Town Hall employees, in the last contract, which ran from July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2010, received a 3 percent salary increase in each year of the contract, said Town Human Resources Director Mary Carroll-Mirylees.

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. As examples, 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.

Town officials in the agreement also codified what they said had been common practice - that dependent retiree insurance and pensions are available only to people who are dependents at the time of the Town Hall employee's retirement and not to someone who becomes a dependent after the employee's retirement.

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. First Selectman Ken Flatto said the 401k/403b plan would have a higher cost to taxpayers upfront. Representative Town Meeting members said the only employees likely to sign up for the 401k/403b retirement plan are those who don't plan to remain town employees longer than 10 years.

Carroll-Mirylees said the agreement did not include an attendance bonus, but did include a longevity bonus of $1,700 after 10 years.

The estimated cost of the agreement would total $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 average employee is here longer than 10 years, so $50,000 gives you an idea of how limited the salary growth is," Flatto said to members of RTM committees Monday night.

Town officials said Town Hall employees should finish voting on the memorandum of agreement Tuesday; if approved by the union members, it would go to the full RTM for a vote at 8 p.m. Monday in the Education Center, 501 Kings Highway East.

"This particular unit still has one more day of voting so we haven't gotten the final tally yet, but our hope is it's ratified. This is certainly the smallest increases we've had in contracts in a long time," Flatto said.

Meanwhile, the proposed contract between the town and the union representing firefighters calls for a 0 percent salary increase from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011; a 2 percent salary increase from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012; and a 2.75 percent salary increase from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013.

The last contract between the town and firefighters, which ran from July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2010, had 3 percent salary increases each year, according to Carroll-Mirylees.

The proposed contract, which covers 94 firefighters, cut back from 30 to 12 the number of annual sick days a senior firefighter could take, and the town cut back the maximum amount of pensions for new firefighters who become fully vested from 80 percent of salary to 75 percent of salary, according to Town Attorney Richard Saxl.

The proposed contract includes the same doubling of co-pays as the Town Hall employees' agreement, and firefighters' contribution to their health benefits would rise from $31 a week to $36 a week, effective July 1, 2012.

Attendance bonuses are no longer in the proposed contract, but longevity bonuses, which can reach a maximum of $3,600, are in, Saxl and Carroll-Mirylees said.

The proposed contract also increases minimum manpower on any given shift from 16 firefighters to 17 firefighters.

The budgetary impact of the proposed contract - not including the $310,000 cost for the increase in minimum manpower, which documents say was a previously-adopted budget cost - totals $566,172 over three years from a base this fiscal year of $9.8 million. If the cost of raising minimum manpower is included in the analysis, the cost totals $1.5 million. The average salary for a firefighter in the union is $68,150.

The RTM's Finance Committee voted to approve the agreement and proposed contract Monday night.

Town officials are still working on new contracts with unions that represent the town's police officers, Department of Public Works' employees, nurses, telecommunicators and mid-management employees.