013012 Wooster Employees Union agrees to multiyear year wage freeze

  • By Sharon Haught
  • January 23, 2012
  • 324
                        
Summary: The union that represents all city employees other than members of management and the fire and police departments has agreed to a multiyear wage freeze. With a unanimous vote and a round of applause, Wooster City Council approved a contract with the third and final union representing the city’s employees – the Wooster Employees Association. During council’s Jan. 17 meeting, Mayor Bob Breneman announced that earlier in the day the city “finalized negotiations with the Wooster Employees Association, which is the union governing all other city workers other than management, fire or police.” With contracts with the police union and the WEA in place through the end of 2013 and an agreement with the fire union in place through the fall of 2014 the city has “some stability in what costs are anticipated from the city”, Breneman noted. The new two year agreement with the WEA runs from Jan. 1, 2012 through Dec. 31, 2013. “The wages and steps will be frozen at the Dec. 31, 2010 levels so there were no raises in 2011. This would again continue in 2012 and 2013,” announced Breneman adding that the contract also contains a provision for “a onetime lump sum payment of $700 per WEA member that would be initiated at the ratification of the contract.” According to Councilman Jon Ansel based on the conservative estimate that the Consumer Price Index would rise 1.5 percent per over the next two year period and “with the corresponding step increases for the Wooster Employees Association the economic impact in terms of our operating budget would have been approximately $194,800.” Even with the signing bonus taken into the consideration the city’s net two year savings will be $134,460, Ansel noted. Breneman noted that the signing bonus provision was the result of negotiations between the parties. If the WEA had not agreed to the signing bonus in lieu of the step increases they initially requested the city’s exposure would have been in “the very high tens of thousands of dollars.” “Our sincere thanks to the WEA members. I know that they did much soul searching and consideration and when it came down to the final vote they said that was something they believed in and wanted to move the city forward and hopefully get us through these tight times,” said Breneman adding “I truly appreciate the union and its membership in working with us in the…city to keep us moving down the field in the right direction.” City Law Director Dick Benson, who acted as the intermediary between the city and the union throughout the negotiations, shared his insights into the key roles members of the WEA play in the day-to-day functioning of the city. “We certainly have the utmost respect for our police and firefighters. Sometimes the members of the WEA fly under the radar but they are equally deserving of respect,” said Benson noting that WEA members “are serving quietly in a variety of ways.” “They are the ones who make sure that the water is clean…and (who) go out and patch the streets and who on snowy mornings are getting up at 4:00 a.m. to make sure that you all can get to work safely that morning,” said Benson. Benson also noted that “the WEA membership suffered more loses through the Voluntary Separation Plan than any other segment” and have seen overtime “severely curtailed for them in an effort to try to hold down our internal costs so they certainly feel the brunt of all of the measures we have taken up to this point to try and contain costs.” “The WEA would like to take this opportunity to thank the administration for working with us and…council for your consideration,” said David Case, who leads the 70 member union as its President. “We look forward to working with the administration during the next two years to get our job done and at the end of the two years look forward to coming back and seeing what we can accomplish then,” Case added.


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