Layoffs of 13 likely in road department

Union members also had agreed to a reduction in their clothing allowance and increased health insurance contributions.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

BOARDMAN — Even after agreeing to no raises over the next three years, the 28 members of the Township Workers Association, which represents road department employees, face the loss of up to 13 members.

Trustees on Wednesday rejected a fact-finder’s report regarding a three-year contract with the road department’s union. The previous contract expired Dec. 31.

The report addressed only two issues: whether contract language allowing two people in a truck during snow and ice removal, termed a safety and health section, should stay in the contract; and seniority.

Before reaching the fact-finding process, the union already had agreed to zero percent raises in each of the three years of the contract and a 10 percent uncapped contribution to health care. The union pays about 8.5 percent for health care currently.

They also agreed to $100 less for their clothing allowance per employee per year. The clothing allowance per employee is about $700 before the reduction.

But after a trustees meeting Wednesday, the department was informed that because of the township’s financial situation, they are facing the loss of 13 employees.

“That would cripple the department,” said Mark Bestic, union president.

He is among those facing layoff.

Bestic hopes to sit down with the township and possibly come up with a way to reduce that number.

“Nobody wants to see anybody leave,” he said.

But he’s not sure if the membership will be able to come up with a solution — considering what they’ve already given up — that will save everybody’s job.

“We’ve done nothing but give back in the first two years” of the proposed contract, Bestic said.

The union is trying to be accommodating, he says, but it’s frustrating that after agreeing to no raises and increased health insurance contributions, they’re still facing layoff of nearly half the members.

“It’s just a bad situation,” he said. “There’s nothing good about it.”

The mood at the road department is grim and has been for the last few months as the possibility of layoffs looms.

Employees are encouraged that trustees said they would place a levy back on the ballot, but the union president also worries that if township services reduce because of layoffs, they’ll never get back to their current levels.

“People move here because of the services,” Bestic said.

The township wanted to eliminate the contract language allowing two people per truck and provide for seniority to be determined based on employee classification instead of for the whole department.

The department’s three mechanics are the most junior members and will be the first laid off under the current language.

Trustee Kathy Miller said the township wanted to be able to keep at least one mechanic during a layoff.

The township argued before the arbitrator that the two-person-per-truck provision “has nothing to do with public or employee safety; it is about the generation of mandatory overtime for bargaining unit personnel,” the report said.

The township also wanted to establish two seniority units: one for mechanics and another for the rest of the employees. Representatives for the township argued that if the mechanics are laid off, it would have to contract the maintenance work and that would cost more than having the work done by mechanics.

The fact-finder ruled in favor of the union on both issues.