Note To Council

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Note to Council:
The next time you negotiate a contract with employees look no further than Monroe when you ask the question, "What are other municipalities doing about Health Insurance and premiums paid by employees?"
If you note the red section below you will see that Contract with Unionized employees just ratified by Monroe's City Council has employees paying 14% of their Health Care Premium, which is 2 times what Middletown Employees are paying at 7%.  Yet it is still well below the Federal Goverment Employee Contribution of 25%.

Monroe council OKs 3-year deal with union

By Denise Wilson 
Staff Writer 
1:35 AM Wednesday, June 10, 2009 

The city of Monroe has approved a new three-year contract with the union representing its water and street departments.
Council by a 6-0 vote Tuesday, , passed an emergency resolution to authorize City Manager William Brock to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 100. Councilman Bob Kelley was absent.
Under the agreement, Brock said 15 employees from the water and street department will receive an annual 3 percent step increase for each three years of the contract, which takes effect July 1, and runs through June 30, 2012.
If warranted, the employees also will receive a merit increase on their anniversary to the next step, Brock said.
The union’s current three-year contract, which began on July 1, 2006, expires on June 30, he said.
Brock said Brad Collins, the city’s director of public works, and himself spent about eight hours working on the agreement.
“It was good negotiations. It went very smoothly and it went very quickly. They were a very good group to work with,” he said.
The union, which has agreed to the new terms, is scheduled to ratify the contract today, , Brock said.
Ron Butts, the union’s representative, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
The agreement also calls for union workers to be paid overtime if they must work during a holiday rather than receive holiday time compensation.
Under the deal, Brock said the union’s vacation schedule also has been amended to match the police and fire contracts.
“The vacation accrual schedule is compressed. Employees will now receive an additional week of vacation at 5. 10 and 20 years rather than 8, 15, and 25,” he said.
The employees share of the health insurance costs also will match other bargaining agreements by increasing the union’s share to 14 percent from 12.5 percent beginning Jan. 1, 2010.
In addition, Brock said, the contract increases the clothing allowance for each employee in the union to $150 from $100 annually.

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Pacman Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jun 02 2007 Status: Offline Points: 2612	Post Options Post Reply Quote Pacman Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Note To Council Posted: Jun 10 2009 at 8:52am
	Note to Council: The next time you negotiate a contract with employees look no further than Monroe when you ask the question, "What are other municipalities doing about Health Insurance and premiums paid by employees?" If you note the red section below you will see that Contract with Unionized employees just ratified by Monroe's City Council has employees paying 14% of their Health Care Premium, which is 2 times what Middletown Employees are paying at 7%. Yet it is still well below the Federal Goverment Employee Contribution of 25%. Monroe council OKs 3-year deal with union By Denise Wilson Staff Writer 1:35 AM Wednesday, June 10, 2009 The city of Monroe has approved a new three-year contract with the union representing its water and street departments. Council by a 6-0 vote Tuesday, , passed an emergency resolution to authorize City Manager William Brock to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 100. Councilman Bob Kelley was absent. Under the agreement, Brock said 15 employees from the water and street department will receive an annual 3 percent step increase for each three years of the contract, which takes effect July 1, and runs through June 30, 2012. If warranted, the employees also will receive a merit increase on their anniversary to the next step, Brock said. The union’s current three-year contract, which began on July 1, 2006, expires on June 30, he said. Brock said Brad Collins, the city’s director of public works, and himself spent about eight hours working on the agreement. “It was good negotiations. It went very smoothly and it went very quickly. They were a very good group to work with,” he said. The union, which has agreed to the new terms, is scheduled to ratify the contract today, , Brock said. Ron Butts, the union’s representative, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. The agreement also calls for union workers to be paid overtime if they must work during a holiday rather than receive holiday time compensation. Under the deal, Brock said the union’s vacation schedule also has been amended to match the police and fire contracts. “The vacation accrual schedule is compressed. Employees will now receive an additional week of vacation at 5. 10 and 20 years rather than 8, 15, and 25,” he said. *The employees share of the health insurance costs also will match other bargaining agreements by increasing the union’s share to 14 percent from 12.5 percent beginning Jan. 1, 2010.* In addition, Brock said, the contract increases the clothing allowance for each employee in the union to $150 from $100 annually.

Middletown News Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Apr 29 2008 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1100	Post Options Post Reply Quote Middletown News Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 10 2009 at 9:47am
	Good point Pacman! I don't want any officers mad at me, but the city should not allow wages to rise much with todays economy and high unemployment rates.
	Please like our Middletown USA Facebook Page

Smokey Burgess Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Resident Joined: Jun 04 2009 Status: Offline Points: 172	Post Options Post Reply Quote Smokey Burgess Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 10 2009 at 10:03am
	Middletown City Council - As mentioned before to Mr. Marconi, Mr. Shiavone and Mr. Armbruster by a long-time City of Middletown employee, you need to ask questions about property located at 1910 Hill Avenue. This property was acquired by the City in 2004 or 2005. Then, approximately $72,000 was spent for rehabilitation. Next, it was conveyed in May 2006 along with 10 FHA Dollar Homes to a local non-profit organization. Then, it was finally sold in early 2008 and the City of Middletown was initially given $4,000+ from the proceeds of the sale. Next, it was discovered that the local non-profit was keeping 90% of the proceeds because someone working for the city failed to place a mortgage against the property when it was conveyed that would protect the investment of $72,000 in HUD funds. After negotiations between respective legal representatives, the city did receive another $20,000. So, this is another example where significant HUD funds were wasted. Miss Vivian, you could have properly used the $45,000+ that city staff wasted on this deal. It would have given you funds to match the Community Foundation grant to restore the vault at the Historic Pioneer Cemetery. We will see what the Queen of Middletown has to say about this additional waste of HUD funds.