Youngstown council OKs 2 union contracts

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

City council approved the two labor contracts unanimously.

YOUNGSTOWN — The city now has contract agreements with two unions representing more than 100 full-time and part-time city employees.

City council, meeting before dozens of union members in council chambers Wednesday, unanimously approved a contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2312-B union, which represents 14 part-time park and recreation department workers.

Council also unanimously agreed to accept a fact finder’s report as a result of the collective-bargaining agreement between the city and AFSCME 2312, which represents 95 secretaries and clerical workers.

The contract between the city and AFSCME 2312-B calls for employees to receive a one-time 5-cents-an-hour raise, retroactive to April 1. Those union members earn between $7.35 and $9.21 an hour. The contract is retroactive to Jan. 1 and expires Dec. 31, 2011. Those union members don’t receive health-care benefits.

The three-year contract with AFSCME 2312 is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2008.

The contract with that union calls for a 3-percent retroactive raise for 2008 and salary freezes for this year and in 2010.

That contract can be reopened in January 2010 with raises to be negotiated if the city is on stronger financial footing at that time.

Cicero Davis, union president, said he is happy with the terms of the contract and the union’s ability to help the city through tough economic times.

“We are very pleased with the unanimous vote from council. We look forward to working with the council and the administration to get through the current financial crisis just like in the rest of the country,” he said.

According to Davis, the union agreed to increases in health-care contributions. He said family-plan contributions will go from $50 per month to $150 per month. Single employees’ cost will increase from $25 per month to $80 per month.

Davis also said the union has about 15 unfilled positions that have been a savings to the city but could eventually jeopardize services to the public.

“This is walking a fine line between keeping positions vacant and providing needed services to the public,” he said.

Mayor Jay Williams said city administration had some reservations about the fact finder’s report — in particularly the 3-percent retroactive pay raise included in the agreement.

“We did have some concerns with the fact finder’s recommendations in this economic environment. We voiced those concerns, council decided to accept the fact finder’s recommendations so we will make whatever adjustments are necessary,” said Williams.

The economy may still determine the fate of union members covered by the agreement. Williams said if the economy does not improve, some members of the union may see layoff notices as a direct result of some of the fact finder’s recommendations.

“We hope that is not the case, but that will depend on what goes on in the economy,” he said. “Our goal here is to avoid layoffs and maintain our current staffing levels.”

jgoodwin@vindy.com