School board, union agree to deal

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REGION 16 — The Board of Education unanimously approved a new, three-year contract with The United Public Service Employees Union Local 424 last week.

The contract is retroactive to July 1, 2014 and runs through June 30, 2017. The union represents secretaries, paraprofessionals, nurses, custodians, food service workers, maintenance persons, hall monitors and technical support technicians in Region 16, which oversees schools in Beacon Falls and Prospect.

Under the contract, full-time employees — those who work 30 hours or more per week — will pay 17.5 percent of their health care costs in the first year of the deal. That percentage will rise to 18 and 18.5 percent in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 fiscal years, respectively.

General wages increased 2.25 percent retroactively to July 1, 2014, under the contract. The deal includes 2 percent raises in the final two years of the agreement.

Longevity benefits will not be paid to employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2015, according to the contract.

Employees in the union hired before January receive annual longevity payments. Union members with 10 to 14 years in the district get $250, employees that have worked for 15 to 20 years get $350 and those that have worked in the district for more than 21 years receive $500, according to the contract.

Superintendent of Schools Michael Yamin said the union has ratified the agreement.

1 COMMENT

  1. This is hard to evaluate this as it stands. It would be helpful if the Region or this newspaper created a side-by-side grid of the three union contracts so that the taxpayer can understand who is currently receiving what for yearly salary increases (percentage), percentage of healthcare costs, and any longevity payments. With this we can compare and evaluate how the Board of Education is doing at the negotiation table. There is an election in 10 months and this would be one of several measurements to be used towards reelecting incumbents.

    Two percent raises in this climate do not sound unreasonable (for the taxpayer), but how does it compare to Teacher’s and Administrators who collectively have larger salaries then the non-certified staff.