Board of trustees OKs contract for 121 service-union employees

YOUNGSTOWN -- The board of trustees of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County approved a three-year and three-month contract with the union representing its 121 clerical, maintenance and technical employees.
The contract, which takes effect Sunday, was ratified last Sunday by a 75-7 vote by members of Service Employees International Union District 1199.
It grants 3-percent pay raises effective each Feb. 1. The current contract, which will expire Saturday, has a pay scale ranging from $8.88 to $11.98 per hour, depending on job classification and years of service.
The new contract increases full-time employees' cost-sharing in their health insurance premiums in the second and third years of the contract.
In the second year, cost shares rise from 5 percent to 6 percent for the single plan and from 7 percent to 8.5 percent for the family plan. In the third year, they rise to 7 percent for the single plan and 10 percent for the family plan.
The library's monthly premiums for insurance in the first year of the contract will range from $293.99 to $329.80 for single employees and $740 to $830 for families. Depending on the plan selected, single employees will pay $16.50 or $24.70 a month, employees with families $51.84 or $58.16. The library's dental insurance premiums are an additional $26.97 per month for singles, $56.75 for families. Single employees opting for the dental plan will pay $13.48 a month toward the premium, employees with families, $28.38 a month.
Part-timers' cost sharing will remain at 40 percent.