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City reaches agreement with 2 remaining unions

The city has reached agreements with each of its three unions.

City council announced Tuesday night that it has contracts with its firefighters and nonuniformed workers. Last month it announced an agreement with police officers.

“There was a lot of give and take in these negotiations,” said Mayor Tom Donaldson. “It’s the first time we’ve had each of the three unions under contract (before current contracts expire).”

City officials were eager to reach agreements with each of the unions before the end of the current contracts at the end of this year.

The city went through arbitration with each of its unions when contracts expired at the end of 2011. It took until August of this year for a decision to be made on the city’s deal with firefighters.

Each of the three unions will receive pay raises of 2.5, 2.75 and 3 percent during the three-year deals.

Council still must sign the agreements with the International Association of Firefighters, Local 114, the union representing its firefighters, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union representing its nonuniformed employees.

The new contract for firefighters will gradually move the union’s contributions to health insurance coverage up to what the other two unions pay.

Firefighters have been contributing 3 percent to their health insurance premiums, while members of the city’s other two unions have been paying 7 percent.

Firefighters will continue to pay 3 percent in 2015, but will pay 5 and then 7 percent the following two years. The police union had the same increase during its past contract.

Police and AFSCME workers currently pay $29 to $93 per month for health care, depending on whether it’s an individual or family plan. Firefighters pay $12 to $40.

Councilwoman Kathy Kline said one of the biggest changes to the agreement with city firefighters is the removal of a mandated 18-man roster.

The city had filed an appeal on the past contract, awarded in August, as the arbitrator did not mention the 18-man roster in his decision, as requested by council.

Kline said that appeal will no longer be needed since the issue has been resolved between the two sides out of court.

Council spoke in the past about possibly reducing its number of firefighters through attrition. The city said it does not plan to reduce the number next year, but wanted the option to control the size of the department.

Nonuniform workers were given an increase in their clothing allowance from $250 to $375, and they received an additional day off.

Councilman Richard Schontz Jr. said the union had a list of requests, but the city felt it had enough changes on the union’s previous deal.

“Basically what we did was say this is what we’re willing to give, and we won’t change,” Schontz said.

Copies of the agreements were not available Tuesday.

The contract with the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 32, union representing city police officers has been signed by both parties.

The new police contract allows the city to hire up to four part-time police officers. The city budgeted about $36,000 for part-time officers in its proposed 2015 budget.

The police agreement also had changes in health insurance coverage for new hires.

Like other officers, new hires will pay 7 percent of their health insurance premiums. However, new hires will pay 30 percent of their premium for any family member covered in the insurance. Existing officers will continue to pay 7 percent for all plans.

New hires will pay the same for individual coverage, but will pay up to $140.72 per pay for family coverage.

There were no changes in insurance coverage for existing officers.

New hires will receive one week of vacation after one year on the job, down from three weeks under the previous deal.

Going forward, new hires will have 2 weeks vacation after 5 years, 3 weeks after 10, and 4 weeks after 15 years.

Salaries for the 18 union firefighters also are expected to increase by about $100,000 from the current budget, increasing from about $900,000 to $1 million.

Wages for the union police officers will be $1.3 million, up from $1.2 million.

The fire department has 18 full-time union members, while the police department has 22. The city’s nonuniform workers include about 15 office, streets and parks department workers.

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