Negotiators for Otsego County and the CSEA reached a tentative contract agreement Tuesday after more than two-and-a-half years of bargaining.
The tentative contract calls for raises of 3 percent a year for 2007 through 2011. It also specifies that the county and union will work cooperatively to try to lower health-insurance costs, including an investigation of the CanaRX Services Inc. program, which imports prescription drugs from Canada.
Another change from the previous contract calls for employees to exchange holidays, giving up Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays to gain President's Day and Martin Luther King Day.
Also, Highway Department employees stand to gain 20 cents an hour when working the second shift, which many have to do to clear roads in the winter.
In the next couple of weeks, CSEA Unit 8100 will hold informational meetings to explain the tentative contract to members. Unit President John Imperato said union members will likely vote on the proposal by the end of October.
If the union membership approves the pact, the Otsego County Board of Representatives will vote on it Nov. 4, Otsego County Board Chairman James Powers said.
Negotiators for both sides said Tuesday's session went smoothly.
``I think we've come up with an agreement that's good for the county and good for CSEA members,'' Imperato said.
While boosting employees' paychecks, the tentative contract should leave the county ``fiscally set for the next couple of years,'' he said.
Powers said he was glad to be able to announce the end of the standoff that has gone on too long.
``I want to thank our country workers and let them know we appreciate all the work they do every day,'' Powers said.
The county's chief negotiator, Syracuse attorney John Corcoran, called Tuesday's meeting ``a very positive session for both sides,'' which included recognition that the county will be making significant contributions to the state retirement system to fund public employees' retirements.
In a conference call with The Daily Star on Tuesday afternoon, CSEA chief negotiator Lynda Broadfoot said she would like to echo comments made by Imperato, Corcoran and Powers.
Tuesday's meeting was convened to discuss recommendations made last summer by state labor relations expert Sumner Shapiro.
In a report dated July 9, Shapiro, a factfinder with the state Public Employment Relations Board, recommended that Otsego County's CSEA workers receive raises of 3 percent, 4 percent, 3 percent, 3 percent and 3.5 percent in a five-year contract.
In terms of salary, this was not far from the county's first offer of raises of $300, 5 percent, 3 percent, 3 percent and 3 percent for the years 2007 through 2011, a proposal that was rejected by union members in 2007.
Powers said that if the new tentative contract is approved, CSEA members will likely see substantial raises by Christmas.
