About 200 union workers at the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center have a new contract nearly a year after their old one expired.

The Butler County commissioners Wednesday approved a one-year contract that includes a 3 percent wage hike.

This year's salary range for workers covered under the contract is $28,200 to $36,700.

The new contract includes a provision for employees to pay a portion of their health care benefits in the form of a 1.5 percent paycheck deduction.

Workers Nov. 11 approved the deal.

Service International Employees Union Healthcare, which represents Sunnyview workers, did not release a vote tally.

More than 75 percent of the affected employees voted.

The contract, which takes effect Jan. 1, also covers the dissolution of the 11-person laundry department.

Workers have been working under a previous four-year contract that expired Nov. 30, 2008.

Under that contract, workers received a 2.5 percent pay hike each year.

The new contract is not retroactive to cover 2009.

About 140 workers in the county government center are still working under the terms of expired contracts.