By a 3-1 vote, Lower Saucon Township Council approved a four-year non-uniformed employee contract retroactive to May 1, 2015 on Wednesday.
The contract covers the township’s public works and other non-uniformed employees, and grants them a 3.75 percent wage increase in year one, a 3.5 percent increase in year two, a 3.25 percent increase in year three and a three percent increase in the fourth and final year. It also increases their contribution amounts to the township’s pension fund by increments of 1 to 1.5 percent through 2019.
The contract was negotiated without a union, since the township’s non-uniformed employees “dropped the union and came up with their own employee association,” councilwoman Priscilla deLeon noted.
The association had ratified the agreement prior to Wednesday’s council vote.
DeLeon was the only council member to vote against the agreement, which she called “a very generous offer” that includes raises which are “very high.”
She criticized the fact that negotiations were stalled after the employees’ most recent contract expired in 2011, when she said “basically nobody wanted to meet with us.”
The fact that the labor agreement includes retroactive pay was a disappointment, and although health care costs are increasing for workers she said they should also be contributing toward the cost of their own premiums and not just those of their dependents.
DeLeon said her opposition to the contract was not a reflection on the employees’ job performance.
“I think they do a wonderful job,” she said.
Council vice president Tom Maxfield said the new agreement will bring Lower Saucon Township’s non-uniform employees’ pay closer in line with that of neighboring municipalities, which have historically paid more.
“In general surrounding townships are (paying) $4 to $7 (per hour) more than us,” council president Ron Horiszny said.
He noted that he and Maxfield were on the negotiating committee for the new contract and believe it to be fair and in the best interests of both the township and the workers.
A 2013 article published by the Express-Times lists the 2012 salaries of Lower Saucon Township employees, which at the time ranged upward from $30,894.36 to $46,841.47 for eight full-time public works crew members.