A three-year contract between Athens Firefighters Union and the city could finally be agreed upon if Athens City Council votes in favor of the tentative agreement during the coming weeks.
The tentative contract, which stipulates union members' next three years working for the Athens Fire Department, was introduced at last night's City Council meeting.
This early agreement comes after the union voted against city officials' original suggested contract because of differing opinions regarding wages, said Law Director Pat Lang.
The city is actually lowering the bottom-line cost (with the new contract)
Lang said. It's a win-win proposal.
If accepted, the contract would be applied as of Nov. 6, 2010 through Nov. 6, 2013, according to the proposed ordinance.
In the original proposal, city officials set a wage increase at 2.5 percent for all members across the board, but applying the flat percentage increase to everyone's salary would continue to widen the gap between workers' wages, Lang said.
The agreed-upon stipulations would now apply a lump sum increase to all workers' wages that would increase each year for the next three years, Lang said.
Also included in the tentative agreement is the ability to use overtime hours as compensation times, Lang said, adding that for all hours up to 48 hours that a worker receives time and a half, they can take the increased pay or they can use the extra time as vacation days.
The contract specifies that insurance premiums would increase during the next three years, with some plans even tripling, Lang said, adding that drug co-pays would also go up, giving workers an incentive to buy generic brands as opposed to brand name drugs.
Contracts in the past have provided workers with uniform allowances because they must purchase their own, and this contract slightly increases the amount they receive, he said.
A Tuition Reimbursement Program also is part of the proposed contract, which allows employees to enroll in field related coursework at Ohio University, according to an ordinance passed March 17, 2008.
Employees are reimbursed 100 percent of tuition including general fees and books, but must receive a passing grade of C. The reimbursement cannot exceed the current tuition rates for five-quarter hours per quarter at the university, according to the ordinance.
Those who step up for command members who are sick would not receive an increase in pay for those days until they had been serving in the position for five days, he said.
This is a good deal for the city and the workers Lang said. The city is spending less but more people are getting more money.
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Alex Stuckey
