A three-year contract already ratified by the Darien Public Works Employees’ Union was endorsed unanimously Monday by the Board of Selectmen.
The contract, for which negotiations stretched so late that the first year of it has already passed, calls for a 2 percent wage increase for the 2014-2015 fiscal year and 2.5 percent wage increases for the next two fiscal years, ending June 30, 2017.
There are 26 members in the union, most of whom are at the top step of the wage scale, W. Lee Palmer, the town director of human resources told selectmen at their regular board meeting on Monday.
Town Administrator Kathleen Buch said the contract will cost the town about $90,000 in increased spending for wages and health insurance.
Buch told the board she estimates the town should save roughly $40,000 in the 2016-2017 fiscal year in health insurance costs. She didn’t quantify savings in retirement costs from the proposed contract.
Wages
“The wage rate for the retro year of the contract (2014-2015) is consistent with the statewide average for arbitration awards and negotiated settlements for that year (2.18 percent and 2.36 percent, respectively),” Palmer said in a memo to the Representative Town Meeting. The RTM has final approval for labor union contracts and is expected to consider this one at its next meeting.
For the next two years of the contract, Palmer wrote that the 2.5 percent increases are “well within the range of statewide negotiated settlements,” the maximum of recent settlements is 2.66 percent. The cost of the contract is “well within the amount reserved in the budget for contract settlements,” Palmer wrote.
For employees hired after July 1, 2015, no longevity bonuses will be given, although for employees hired before that date, the amounts of the bonuses are increased in the new contract. “This will result in significant savings to the town over time,” Palmer wrote.
Pensions
The pension plan for the employees will have a cap of 70 percent of the employee’s average annual compensation, which mirrors the pension cap already negotiated with four unions in Darien Public Schools.
Under current rules, an employee in the union who works for the town for as long as 50 years could get 100 percent of average annual compensation as a pension amount, Palmer said.
With the new agreement, senior employees who have been in the pension plan for at least 25 years as of July 1, 2017 are eligible for up to 75 percent of their average annual compensation (rather than 70 percent).
Health insurance
All members of the bargaining unit will have a high-deductible health insurance plan and other health insurance plans will be closed by the 2016-2017 fiscal year. Palmer estimates the town will save $25,000 from this provision and limits cost increases for the town in the future.
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