County set to approve CSEA contract
By KERRY McAVOY/The Leader-HeraldFONDA - Montgomery County's new Civil Service Employees Union contract for 2009 will include a 3 percent annual pay increase through 2012 for the 255 workers in the union.
The contract is set to be approved by the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
The contract will include both full-time and part-time county employees.
Local 829 President Eddie Russo said the union members seemed to be pleased with the contract. They voted 143 to 62 in support of the pact.
He said the union had started out seeking higher pay raises, but he said the county stuck to its guns and wouldn't go that high.
Russo said with the economy as poor as it is, the 3 percent raise was still good for the union.
"For what we got right now, it's very good," Russo said.
CSEA members also will receive higher longevity payments of 1 percent for the first four years of service with the county and 1.4 percent after that.
Russo said this is very good news for the union and it was one of the things CSEA was fighting for this year.
Union workers will also receive an increase in credit-hours from six to eight. This means workers will be reimbursed by the county for taking up to eight college credit-hours in a program or course that is job-related. Russo said any college may be attended, but the Local 829 encourages courses to be taken locally at Fulton-Montgomery Community College.
Dental coverage will change to Delta Dental from the former CSEA dental plan. Russo said it would save about $650 a year for families with this new plan. The plan has more local dentists participating, especially in Amsterdam.
"The entire plan has better savings," Russo said.
Changes to the eye-glasses benefit in the plan also will offer savings, he said.
CSEA spokeswoman Therese Assalian said the new contract also includes a package of upgrades of Department of Social Services worker titles. Assalian said this is one of the major components of the new contract because some workers' titles were not what they should have been based on their seniority and job descriptions.
The union members will have higher co-pays for health care under the new contract. Russo said the cost would increase from $20 to $25 for office visits, for example.
Fulton County also recently settled a one-year 2.75 percent pay raise contract with CSEA for their workers. The unit has about 480 members who will also receive $200 added to their base salaries on Jan. 1, 2010.
The board will vote on the measure on new CSEA contract and the FMCC contract with their union during the Nov. 25. regular board meeting scheduled to being at 7 p.m. at the County Office Building on Broadway.
