Claremont
Chris Kilmer, a staff representative with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said at Wednesday night’s City Council meeting that the administration is showing the unions “very little respect.”
“We are asking to be treated fairly and treated with respect and not wait until next July to get a contract,” Kilmer said, as a number of union members wearing dark green “AFSCME” T-shirts sat in the audience.
He said the last contract offer to the DPW was a “take it or leave it. We left it. Now we are being told the city doesn’t have to negotiate because we are in mid-budget.”
Kilmer said City Manager Ryan McNutt has told the union any new contract would have to begin on July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.
On Thursday, McNutt said the DPW union, with 23 members, rejected two contract offers last March and again in June prior to the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.
“They walked away from both,” McNutt said, adding that at the time he was willing to put money in the current year’s budget to cover the proposed wage increases. “I can’t (now) go back in the budget and give them retroactive increases.”
The sticking points in the negotiations were health insurance and wage increases.
Kilmer said the proposal from the city included wage increases of between 1 to 3 percent, depending on the employee, but employees would have had to accept a first loss deductible on all health insurance claims of $2,500 for single plans and $5,000 for two person and family plans before insurance would pay anything. Presently, the plan has a 20 percent co-pay with the city paying 90 percent of premiums for nearly all employees.
“Nobody else is forced to have that plan,” Kilmer told the council about the high deductible. “The only way we get a wage adjustment is to go to this insurance. We don’t think that is fair. All we are asking is to be treated equitably and get a wage increase and maintain our health insurance.”
McNutt disagreed with Kilmer’s interpretation. He said offer the offer in June of a 1 to 3 percent pay increase was not tied to a change in the health plan.
“They still rejected it as not enough money,” McNutt said in an email.
He said the city is looking at an 8 to 9 percent increase in health insurance; that will add $1,500 per employee to the city’s cost.
“If your highest goal is to maintain the generous health plan, you have to concede some of the wage increases. They didn’t accept that. If they think we can give 3 to 4 percent pay increases each year they don’t understand the community they live in. Claremont cannot afford it,” he said.
Under former City Manager Guy Santagate, DPW workers agreed to a one-year deal with no pay increase, which expired on Dec. 31, 2017. Though there has not been an across-the-board wage increase since then, McNutt said there have been some increases for individual employees who obtain additional education or training as allowed in the collective bargaining agreement.
Kilmer also said DPW workers are not asking for pay increases similar to what police received in a new three-year contract last year. That agreement has an increase of 6 percent in year one and 3 percent for each of the next two years, along with signing bonuses. The goal of the contract was to attract new officers and solve the high turnover rate with officers leaving for better pay in neighboring communities.
“We understand they have a revolving door with officers,” Kilmer said. “We are not looking for huge raises but equitable raises, like 2 or 2.5 percent across the board,” Kilmer said on Thursday. “(McNutt) rejected that.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
