Campbell council set to ratify union pact

Photo

Campbell Mayor William VanSuch

Staff report

CAMPBELL

Two contracts between the city and its unions have been settled, and council is expected to pass one of them at its meeting tonight.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 759, which includes five street department workers and 10 water-plant workers, recently ratified a contract, said Mayor Bill VanSuch.

The contract includes no raises. The union had wanted a shift differential but did not get it, he said.

He said the only difference in the new contract is a trade from allowing workers a day off after Easter to a day off after Thanksgiving.

Street-department employees make $15.04 to $16.09 an hour, VanSuch said.

VanSuch also said firefighters have ratified their three-year contract with the city, but legislation to approve it won’t be introduced until council’s April 20 meeting.

Firefighters aren’t getting a raise, he said, but have reserved the right to open negotiations again for wages after the first of the year if the state lifts the city’s fiscal-emergency status.

Firefighters make from $28,000 for a cadet to $34,000 a year for a regular firefighter, said David Horvath, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2998 Campbell Firefighters Association. A captain’s base wage is $37,000.

City employees pay a percentage of health-care premiums, said city Finance Director Sherman Miles.

The single plan costs the city $5,224, of which employees pay 14.9 percent. The employee-spouse plan costs $11,416, of which employees pay 7 percent. The employee-child plan costs $8,971, of which employees pay 9 percent. And the family plan costs $16,171, of which employees pay 5 percent.

The mayor said he has made an offer in a re- negotiation of the three-year contract with the city’s police. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 42 has not yet had a ratification meeting, he said.

Council members rejected the first contract, signed July 27 by the city’s former mayor, in September. The lawmakers took the FOP to court over the contract in October. It gives $1-an-hour raises to six of the city’s 12 police officers in the first year. In the second year, it gives 25-cent raises to all officers.

VanSuch said he wants to wait until the contract is settled before he releases more details about it.