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Longevity pay scale sought for Niles nonunion workers
By JORDAN COHEN
NILES
Three longtime city-hall employees, including council Clerk Linda Yuhasz, have requested a longevity-pay scale for all nonunion city workers similar to what their union counterparts have.
Mayor Ralph Infante is anything but sympathetic, however.
“No way,” Infante said. “That means a $3,000 increase for people who have been here 25 years, and I can’t support anything like that.”
The heated exchange occurred during a meeting with council’s finance committee Wednesday in Infante’s office with Yuhasz; Sherry Rose, an assistant to Law Director Terry Dull; and Kathy Salapata, a city registered nurse.
“We just want to have what everybody else has,” Salapata said.
Longevity pay increases a worker’s compensation based on years of employment.
Yuhasz said that a longevity scale would apply to only 20 nonunion employees this year. She said she believes the city has the money and that it would cost the city only about $10,245 for this calendar year. Yuhasz estimated the cost to the city in the second year at about $43,000. The mayor said that by his count, the scale eventually would apply to at least 30 people including department heads.
“We don’t even want it retroactive,” Yuhasz said. “As far as we’re concerned, you could make it effective Oct. 1.”
Yuhasz argued that union members with less seniority or skills are making more money than they are because of their longevity pay.
“They’re pulling away from us,” she said.
As explained by Infante and Charles Nader, Niles auditor, the city’s firefighters and police have had a longevity scale for several years. One was negotiated with the nonuniformed employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in 2007.
“We have traditionally given nonunion people what AFSCME gets,” said Steve Papalas, finance chairman. “We’d like to do something.”
“I won’t support anything that increases base pay,” replied Infante, who warned that the city could face arbitration from unions that agreed to wage freezes in their last negotiated contracts if the city employees’ request is approved by council.
Nader said the 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.
An employee who has the 25 years of service and earns $40,000 a year would receive an additional $5,000 under the scale.
Infante said that would be costly for the city since nearly all department heads have at least 20 years of continuous employment.
Nader said he thinks the longevity scale is wrong for the city. “I’d rather see us pay it in dollars rather than percentages,” the auditor said.
The auditor said he will provide the dollar figures the city could expect to pay under the requested longevity scale. Council members, who would not commit to supporting the request, agreed to review the figures at another committee meeting Wednesday.