Support staff will get 2 percent annual wage hikes

By William K. Alcorn

alcorn@vindy.com

WARREN

Support-staff employees at St. Joseph Health Center, represented by Teamsters Local 377, approved a new, three-year contract Friday, effective immediately, that gives them 2 percent pay increases each year of the pact.

Local 377 represents nearly 180 nonprofessional employees such as kitchen staff, patient transport and secretarial services, said Bobbi Terwilliger, the union’s business manager.

The membership had authorized its negotiating committee to call a strike, and a 10-day strike notice had been issued to the hospital with a strike date of 6 a.m. Monday.

The primary sticking points were wages, freezing of the defined-benefits pension, and increased health-care premiums, Terwilliger said.

On Tuesday, however, the hospital offered to freeze health-care premiums for the length of the contract, a move Terwilliger believes caused the membership to approve the new work agreement even though the hospital can change the coverage.

The 2-percent raises average about 20 cents per hour, and the union got stronger language to prevent outsourcing of work.

Also the hospital gave employees a 1-percent lump-sum pension transition bonus based on their annual earnings at the end of 2013, which would amount to about $200 for most employees, Terwilliger said.

Some older employees were disappointed because the pensions were frozen, but the health-care premium freeze was a positive, she said.