Barre staff signs contract
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By David Delcore TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: October 28, 2008
BARRE - The city's unionized clerical and custodial staff will see their hourly wages climb 11 percent over the next three years under the terms of a recently ratified contract that will require them to pay 20 percent of their health care premiums by the time it expires in 2011.
The newly signed 32-page contract, which replaces a three-year agreement that expired on June 30, was released by City Manager John Craig on Monday.
According to the terms of the new deal, key financial aspects of the contract - including the first of three negotiated pay raises and an initial increase in health insurance co-pays - will be applied retroactively to July 1.
Under the terms of the contract, the city's clerical and custodial staff will receive a 3.9 percent increase in their hourly wages this year, an additional 3.9 percent pay raise during the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2009, and an hourly wage hike of 3.7 percent in the third and final year of the contract. Those increases do not include overtime, longevity benefits, or differentials many of the union's members receive in addition to their base wages.
In exchange for those pay raises employees have agreed to pick up a steadily increasing share of their health insurance premiums. This year they will be responsible for paying 16 percent of those premiums. That figure will climb to 18 percent on July 1, 2009, and finally to 20 percent on July 1, 2010.
Although the contract references specific insurance plans offered through Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Vermont, the city has again reserved the right to switch providers with the understanding that the union must be consulted and employees are guaranteed "equal or greater coverage and benefits."
Starting in January, employees enrolled in the Vermont Freedom Plan will be eligible for reimbursement for deductible payments incurred under that plan during the calendar year. Employees taking single coverage will be eligible for reimbursement of up to $500 and those with two-person or family coverage will be eligible for a reimbursement of $1,000.
According to the contract, all employees are entitled to dental coverage, but are required to pay the full cost of enrolling dependents in the plan. They are also entitled to an eye-care reimbursement of up to $565 over the life of the contract.
The contract requires the city to provide a safety shoe allowance of $450 over the life of the contract to a handful of employees and supply those required to work outdoors with a "heavy winter coat."
The 16-member bargaining unit includes a diverse collection of city employees that ranges from laborers and the meter reader to bookkeepers to and maintenance personnel.
With the new contract now in place, all four of Barre's municipal labor unions are, at least briefly, under contract. Unionized members of the city's police and fire and ambulance departments are working under separate multi-year agreements, which, like the contract for the city's clerical and custodial staff, will expire on June 30, 2011. Meanwhile, employees of the city's public works department are working under a contract that will expire on Dec. 31.do not include overtime, longevity benefits, or differentials many of the union's members receive in addition to their base wages.
In exchange for those pay raises employees have agreed to pick up a steadily increasing share of their health insurance premiums. This year they will be responsible for paying 16 percent of those premiums. That figure will climb to 18 percent on July 1, 2009, and finally to 20 percent on July 1, 2010.
Although the contract references specific insurance plans offered through Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Vermont, the city has again reserved the right to switch providers with the understanding that the union must be consulted and employees are guaranteed "equal or greater coverage and benefits."
Starting in January, employees enrolled in the Vermont Freedom Plan will be eligible for reimbursement for deductible payments incurred under that plan during the calendar year. Employees taking single coverage will be eligible for reimbursement of up to $500 and those with two-person or family coverage will be eligible for a reimbursement of $1,000.
According to the contract, all employees are entitled to dental coverage, but are required to pay the full cost of enrolling dependents in the plan. They are also entitled to an eye-care reimbursement of up to $565 over the life of the contract.
The contract requires the city to provide a safety shoe allowance of $450 over the life of the contract to a handful of employees and supply those required to work outdoors with a "heavy winter coat."
The 16-member bargaining unit includes a diverse collection of city employees that ranges from laborers and the meter reader to bookkeepers to and maintenance personnel.
With the new contract now in place, all four of Barre's municipal labor unions are, at least briefly, under contract. Unionized members of the city's police and fire and ambulance departments are working under separate multi-year agreements, which, like the contract for the city's clerical and custodial staff, will expire on June 30, 2011. Meanwhile, employees of the city's public works department are working under a contract that will expire on Dec. 31.
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