After almost three years of working without a contract, Southold’s Civil Service Employees Association and the town ratified a new contract on Friday.
The CSEA signed the contract on Wednesday, according to CSEA president Tom Skabry. “It might not be a perfect contract but it’s a fair contract,” he said.
Added Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell, “it was a long time coming and I am glad it came to a fair resolution for all sides.”
The CSEA’s previous contract expired on December 31, 2012. The new contract, a four year contract, will expire on December 31, 2016.
Originally, Skabry said, the union was negotiating for a three-year contract but the four year contract was accepted, he said. “It’s a good thing for both the town and the union; it gives everyone the opportunity to simmer down a bit and work with the current contract rather than have to back direct into negotiations.”
Highlights of the new contract include a retroactive increase of 1 percent for 2013, 1.25 percent for 2014, an increase of 2 percent for 2015 and 2 percent for 2016.
According to Town Comptroller John Cushman, the agreement also includes a signing bonus of $276 for full-timers and $67 for part-timers.
Skabry said the town realized cost savings as far as a salary package. Regarding health benefits, the union will continue to maintain its contribution of five percent of the premium cost toward medical and hospitalization benefits. “The flips side is that the town is actually going to be realizing savings” by “rolling over” into the New York State Health Insurance Plan, Skabry said, rather than “paying the Island Group of East Hampton. The town will directly enroll in the insurance plan itself,” he said.
One of the biggest points, Skabry said, was increased job protections for labor and non-competitive jobs, including the ability for an employee to “drop down to another department in the same title” when facing layoff, or to go back to a previously held position as long “as that position is held by someone with lesser townwide seniority,” he said.
Skabry said union members were satisfied after a long battle. “The package was accepted overwhelmingly by the membership,” he said.
The past years have been marked by contentious negotiations, with mediation required over stalled contract negotiation talks.
