The Town has a new labor agreement with the New England Police Benevolent Association (PBA), the union representing DPW workers, police officers and Police Department staff. The Selectboard approved the agreement at its last meeting in October. The contract expires on June 30, 2023.
The union worked over two years without a contract, as the prior one expired on June 30, 2018. The new agreement also covers that period. Workers will receive retroactive pay. Town Manager Herb Durfee told me by email that he “budgeted [for] most of those items in this year’s Town budget.” For those items that aren’t budgeted, they “should be able to be absorbed by other line items.”
Surprisingly, the Town is noncommittal on whether Tracy Hall staff, who are not covered by the contract, will get retroactive pay.
Neither the Town Manager nor the PBA appeared in a hurry to conclude negotiations despite the prior contract’s expiration. I suppose that indicates good labor relations but the two-year gap troubles me.
All Selectboard discussions about the negotiations and agreement occurred in executive session. As a result, it’s impossible to know what issues, if any, concerned the Board. The unanimous vote approving the agreement in public session was pro forma.
The Selectboard can do better for the public. Would it be so hard to hit the highlights of the agreement in public session?
Here’s what caught my mostly uninformed eye.
Wages and benefits
In terms of hourly pay, the contract keeps the pay schedule that includes annual step and COLA increases.
Employees will continue to receive a step increase on the anniversary date of hire, so long as she or he received a satisfactory performance evaluation. A step is approximately a 2% increase in pay.
Moreover, the pay schedule increases every year on July 1 by a cost of living adjustment. The COLA has been calculated for 2018 (1.08%), 2019 (1.28%) and 2020 (1.46%) based on a CPI reference. The same CPI formula applies in the final two years of the agreement. However, the increase shall not be less than 1.5% or more than 4%.
With respect to health insurance, the convoluted formula for determining the employee’s share of of costs remains the same. For the current year, a single employee pays $37.33 per month for a Gold standard plan, as I read Appendix E. The Town pays the rest. For a Family plan at that level, the employee pays $290.90 per month.
Vacation time is increased. However, the agreement caps accumulated vacation time at 180 hours [4.5 weeks].
Town Manager Durfee was not able to tell me the cost to the Town of the contract, as he was in the midst of preparing the total Town budget. As a result, I don’t know the economic consequences of the big money items (pay and health insurance benefits) in the new agreement. Hopefully, the Selectboard had a handle on the topic.
Working Foreman
The agreement creates a new position of Working Foreman. According to Town Manager Durfee the position “essentially will help to direct the Highway Department staff with duties, work orders, and calls to staff for emergencies/snowplowing.”
No increase in DPW staff will occur. However, the internal candidate selected gets bumped two pay grades, an pay increase of roughly 10%. That means a payroll increase to cover the cost of the “vice-director” of the DPW. An added benefit for the Working Foreman may be the use of a Town vehicle.
Note that the budget this year called for a part-time administrative assistant for the DPW Director. That position, however, went unfilled this year in order to cover added payroll costs in the Finance Office. Looks like Norwich will be adding to the payroll next budget year. In contrast, the Town of Hartford is trying to avoid layoffs while keeping the budget flat, in part because of pandemic related financial hardships.
Non-union employees
The union contract only covers workers in the bargaining unit – employees at the DPW and NPD. The Town Manager was noncommittal about whether other town employees will get the benefit of that agreement, including retroactive pay for COLA. “For other employees, that question will be dealt with, yes or no, as we get into updating the Personnel Policies that have been on hold during the negotiation,” said Town Manager Durfee in an email.
Hmm. Seems like something the Selectboard should put on the very TOP of its agenda.