After negotiating for a year and a half, a small trades union has come to an agreement with the Board of Education on a new labor contract.
The union is made up of only 12 people, a crew that fixes up things around the school system. It includes one locksmith, one painter, and a few carpenters, plumbers, electricians and steamfitters. They do small jobs, such as installing in 400 hand sanitizers to ward off swine flu, said Chief Operating Officer Will Clark.
After a closed-door session, the school board Monday unanimously approved a four-year labor contract for the union spanning from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2012.
The trades union agreed to take zero pay increase for a year and a half — the time it spent negotiating beyond the last contract’s expiration date. Going forward, they’ll get three raises of roughly 3 percent each on Jan. 1, 2010, July 1, 2010 and July 1, 2011.
Trades union workers currently make $28.96 per hour.
Mayor John DeStefano highlighted two concessions: The union took zeros on wage increases, and agreed to have new employees join a state pension fund called MERF (Municipal Employee Retirement Fund). The fund is a less aggressive alternative to the city’s pension fund, CERF, the mayor said. Both are defined-benefit funds, but MERF has lower benefits and less risk to the city, he said.
The mayor said the trade union contract serves as another model for the next round of labor contracts. The city is facing short-term budget woes, and is bracing for fallout from the state’s impending budget troubles in the next couple years. As labor contracts open, the city is targeting pensions and health care as places to save long-term costs.
As in the recently approved police union contract, new hires in the trades must join a new health plan that’s cheaper for the city. DeStefano said he expects other unions to follow the trades union’s example of having new hires join MERF.
After Monday’s vote, DeStefano shook hands with a school system negotiator who worked on the trades union contract.
“Do you think it’s going to flip the custodians?” DeStefano asked in jest. The custodial union, AFSCME Local 287, is still negotiating its next contract.
Local 3144, the city’s management union, is due to start negotiating in January on a new contract.
Trades union president Jerry Fucci couldn’t be reached Monday night.
His union has a small membership and a long name. It’s made up of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local 24; the Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, District Council 11; the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 90; and the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the US and Canada, Local 777.
