New SEIU deal could soon be approved
The three-member Washington County board of commissioners plans to vote Thursday on a new contract with members of the Service Employees International Union who have been working under the terms of their expired pact since Jan. 1.
Workers at the Courthouse Square office building and courthouse, who are members of SEIU Local 668 and employees of the Washington County Health Center, Arden, who are members of SEIU Healthcare PA, voted on a proposed joint contract last Thursday. Union members and the county were notified Friday that the document won approval among the membership by a vote of 186 to 65, said Toni Vallone, business agent for SEIU Local 668.
The employees will be receiving pay increases of 3 percent retroactively and for the remainder of this year as soon as the controller’s office can arrange for the payment after the expected board approval. During the next two years of the contract, their raise will be 1.5 percent through June 30 and an additional 1.5 percent July 1 through the end of each year. They are also scheduled to receive a 3 percent raise in 2016.
The contract anticipates no changes in union members’ health insurance coverage for the remainder of the year, but in 2014, the health insurance will include a $500 deductible for individuals and a $1,000 deductible for families.
Employees are paying 5 percent for the cost of insurance. Their share of the premium will increase to 7 percent in 2015 and 10 percent in 2016.
“The parties have been bargaining for the last 10 months in order to reach this agreement in the difficult economic times that we’re currently experiencing,” Vallone said. “I consider it a four-year contract. It’s done in 2016.”
Scott Fergus, Washington County director of administration who was a member of the collective bargaining team, said this brings the approximately 500 members of the SEIU in line with other county workers’ benefit policy.
Another aspect of the contract creates an additional five-year step in the contract for those who have worked for the county for 30 years. They will be receiving an additional 25 cents per hour.
Announcement of the new contract at the commissioners’ agenda discussion Wednesday coincided with a meeting for county employees on retirement benefits in the public meeting room of the Courthouse Square office building.
Pennsylvania public employees, however, do not bargain for post-retirement packages, unlike negotiations between labor and management in the private sector.
“No pension benefits are negotiable,” Fergus said. “They are all statutory.” Employees contribute 7 percent of their salaries to their pension plan and county taxpayer contributions are determined by a formula set by the state Legislature, with a five-year “smoothing” provision to take into account fluctuations in investments.