Niles workers get modest increases

October 10, 2010 at 12:04a.m.

NILES

The city’s full-time, nonunion employees, who asked for the same longevity scale paid to Niles’ unions, will not get it.

Council has yielded to the adamant opposition of Mayor Ralph Infante and approved a package of only modest increases with no longevity scale for the city’s nonunion bargaining workers and managers.

“It’s not what I would have liked to see,” said Councilman Steve Papalas, D-at large. “We should have given [to the nonunion employees] what the unions have gotten, but this is what we have.”

The union longevity scale is implemented in the sixth year of an employee’s service as a percentage of the base wage. It is multiplied with each year of service and reaches its maximum with completion of the 25th year. Infante said that providing the same benefits would have been too difficult to administer.

“There would have been too many pay scales to deal with,” the mayor said. “What council passed is exactly what I wanted.”

Linda Yuhasz, council clerk who was among the employees requesting the scale, declined to comment after council’s action.

The ordinance grants Niles’ nonunion employees who are entitled to longevity pay $8 per month for each full year of service up to 30 years with an increase to $9 per month next year. The employees had been receiving longevity pay of $7 monthly.

In addition, the workers get the pay equivalent of one extra week of vacation this year and receive an extra vacation week in 2011. Council’s ordinance also will pay them an additional $350 this year if they complete certification for training in disciplines such as CPR and drug-and-alcohol supervision. The figure increases to $400 for those who take and complete certification each subsequent year.

Last month Yuhasz and two other city employees said they felt longevity was justified since a number of union members with less skill and responsibilities were earning more than some supervisors because of their longevity. Infante said their proposal was too costly for the city.

In one other item, council approved retaining American Municipal Power to examine operations of the Niles Light Department to determine how to cut costs and reduce a projected deficit of $3.5 million. Infante said the deficit resulted from an 80 percent price increase in energy purchased from a coal plant. In response, Niles began purchasing from a hydroelectric power facility earlier this year. The mayor said the company is not charging the city for its study.