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Mahoning library workers get pay increases
POLAND
Trustees of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County have ratified a new 3-year labor contract providing annual pay increases for 102 library system employees.
The agreement, effective May 1, gives pay increases of 3 percent in the first year and 2.25 percent each in the second and third years to the system’s clerical, maintenance and technical employees.
While providing these increases, the new contract controls the system’s payroll costs by abolishing the previous system of built-in 1.5 percent biennial step increases that compounded any annual pay increases, according to Janet Loew, the system’s communications and public relations director.
The average hourly wage for these workers, who belong to Service Employees International Union District 1199, will go from $11.95 to $12.34 as the new agreement begins. The pay increases follow wage concessions by employees in 2009 and 2010.
The union membership ratified the agreement last week, and trustees of the 16-branch system unanimously ratified it Tuesday.
“We were pleased that we were able to stay within our budget and reach agreement with the union,” said Heidi Daniel, who became system director last year upon the retirement of Carlton Sears.
A contract will expire Sept. 30 for a Public Librarian Association of Youngstown bargaining unit from the same union, which consists of 49 librarians and library assistants.
The system has a total of 177 employees and a 2013 operating budget of $18.1 million. It has a $23.8 million savings and investment portfolio, including $19.5 million in its building and repair fund.
Passage of a new, county-wide 1.8-mill, five-year real estate tax levy for operations and maintenance in 2010 increased the system’s operating budget by 59 percent from $11.69 million in 2010 to $18.62 million in 2011.