Pact OK'd for clerk employees

The new three-year contract abolishes longevity pay.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County commissioners have approved a three-year labor contract for 64 employees of the county clerk of courts office belonging to American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3956.
The contract, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2006, runs through Dec. 31, 2008, and substantially raises co-payments toward the health-care premiums.
The union employees, who voted 42-6 to ratify the pact last week, have paid a flat $6 a month toward their premiums until now. They will now begin paying 10 percent of the premiums, which office management has been paying for the past several years, according to Kathi McNabb Welsh, chief deputy clerk.
That works out to $50 a month for the single plan, $93 for an employee and child, $100 for a couple, and $106.50 for a full family plan, according to Mark Stan, chief steward of the AFSCME local, which had been without a contract since 2003.
Pay increase
The AFSCME-represented employees, who earned between $10.42 per hour for the lowest paid file clerk and $15.99 per hour for the highest paid head bookkeepers in 2005, are getting a 3 percent increase, retroactive to Dec. 31, 2005, an additional 3 percent, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2006, and 3 percent starting Jan. 1, 2007. There will be a wage reopener Jan. 1, 2008.
The union members last received a pay increase Jan. 1, 2002, Stan said. The new contract abolishes longevity pay, which was bonus pay for years of service.
AFSCME Local 3956 represents employees of Clerk of Courts Anthony Vivo at the county courthouse, the auto title department at the South Side Annex and county court clerks in Boardman, Austintown, Canfield and Sebring.
AFSCME members will continue to get overtime pay at time and a half for hours worked beyond 40 hours in a week, but overtime work is rare, Stan said.
The commissioners will not meet next week. Their next meeting will be at 6 p.m. July 11 at American Legion Post 737, 16465 Milton Ave., Lake Milton.