COLONIE – The Town Board approved contracts with two of the unions representing town workers at the its meeting on Thursday, March 8.
The four-year deals are identical for CSEA Unit B and Unit C. Unit B has 105 employees and they are mostly field workers in the Department of Public Works, the Water Department and general services. Unit C has 41 employees and they are supervisors, foremen and/or technicians in the same departments.
The old contracts expired on Dec. 31, 2016.
The major provisions include a 0 percent raise in 2017 to 2018 but there is a one-time check of 1 percent of an employee’s salary. That will cost about $51,800 for Unit B and $24,600 for Unit C, said Chris Kelsey, the town’s acting comptroller.
Employees in both unions will get a 2.5 percent raise in 2019 and 2020.
Based on the 2017 total salary estimates of $5.4 million for Unit B and $2.6 million for Unit C, the 2.5 percent raises in 2019 will cost about $134,000 and $66,000, respectively. In 2020, they will cost about $138,000 and $68,000.
When spread out over the four-year life of the contract, the raises equal an average increase of 1.5 percent per year.
Other, more minor provisions include increasing bereavement leave to a max of two days, increasing the allowance for safety shoes from $50 to $200 and requiring out or title pay for 11 consecutive days of work.
“Both sides were very professional,” said Rosemary Newton, the town’s human resource director. “We have a long term relationship. Both sides expressed their differences, but in a collegial and cooperative manner.”
The town has seven unions and they all expired on Dec. 31, 2016. Each were offered the same core allowances – with the exception of the Police Benevolent Association and the police lieutenants which varied more than the others.
There are two left to sign on: town dispatchers working in CSEA Unit D and employees working in EMS.