New contract near for Oceanside sanitation

Indications are that both the union representing Oceanside Sanitary District No. 7 workers and district officials are ready to sign a new contract.

After three years of fits and starts, a fact finder from the state’s Public Employment Relations Board has issued his report on the contentious negotiations between the district and its employees, who are represented by Local 854 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The 16-page report, presented by Eugene Ginsberg on July 24, describes the negotiations since the last contract between the district and the union expired on Dec. 31, 2010, and makes non-binding recommendations for a new contract.

The board quickly accepted the recommendations.

“The board was upset by what it feels was a misstatement of facts by the union representatives in prior press reports,” said board attorney Anthony Iovino. “From the very beginning, the board has tried to give the workers a fair contract. However, the union’s demands were astronomical, and the board was simply unable to meet them. In fact, the fact-finder’s recommendations are almost identical to the board’s last bargaining position. Unfortunately for the workers, our initial offer in 2010 was substantially higher than what the fact-finder is recommending now.”

“The board has, however, advised the union that it will accept the fact-finder’s recommendations,” Iovino added. “The board is hopeful that the parties will move toward a settlement based on the fact-finder’s report so that the matter may be concluded. The board is hopeful that the recommendations will be accepted by the union, and that this matter may finally be resolved in the best interests of the workers and the taxpayers.”

Daniel Gatto, the president of Local 854, was more succinct. “The union is going to recommend that the workers accept the fact-finder’s report,” Gatto said this week, adding that no date has been set for the workers to vote on the new contract.

Gatto added that he hopes to have the vote in the next few weeks, but that the union’s attorney is on vacation and needs some time to “verify the numbers” prior to a vote.

“We are glad the fact-finder recommended another year,” Gatto said. “I’m in favor of the sixth year, and I believe the district will be as well.”

“We are not going to get a better deal anywhere else,” he said of the recommendations. “I believe that we should take it.”

In recent months, a number of workers, all of whom asked to remain anonymous because they feared retribution, have told the Herald that they were angry with both district officials and union leaders over the contract impasse. One said that the district was attempting to break the union, and that union officials were not working hard enough to broker a “living-wage contract.”

Ginsberg’s recommendations include a 1 percent raise for 2012 and 2013, a 1.5 percent raise for 2014 and a 2.5 percent raise for 2015 — a total raise over the life of the contract of 6 percent.

The union had demanded 2.5 percent for both 2011 and 2012 and 3 percent for each of the three following years — a total of 14 percent. The district had offered workers no raise for 2011 and 2012 and a 1.5 percent raise for the following three years, a total of 4.5 percent.

The other sticking point in the negotiations was the question of who should pay workers’ health insurance. District workers have not contributed to their health care insurance costs in the past.

In its submission to the fact-finder, the district argued that “it appears that Oceanside is virtually unique” in that respect, and wanted employees to pay 15 percent of their health insurance costs. The union countered that the workers should continue to receive fully paid benefits.

“It is reasonable for the district to propose employee contributions,” Gibson said. He recommended that employees contribute to the plan in steps until Dec. 31, when a new health care payment system would be put in place.

For now, employees will have to direct a percentage of their earnings to their health insurance, on a sliding scale that will ensure that whatever salary increases they earn will not be wiped out by having to do so. As of Dec. 31, 2015, however, each worker will pay a set percentage of his or her health insurance. Those who earn more than $70,093, will have to pay 15 percent, while those who earn between $50,000 and $70,093 will pay 10 percent. Those who earn between $30,000 and $50,000 will pay 5 percent, while those who earn less than $30,000 will pay 2 percent.

In addition, Ginsberg urged that the contract period be extended to six years instead of the five years requested by both sides.

The new contract will affect drivers, helpers and laborers. The district currently has 48 union employees.

The sanitary district serves 13,000 households in Oceanside and small portions of Baldwin and East Rockaway. It also serves about 950 businesses, and has a budget of $8.65 million.

Town of Hempstead officials said that it is too early to speculate on the impact the impending contract will have on taxpayers. The average homeowner now pays about $600 in district taxes each year.