©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| Two-year Contract Awarded to Landfill Union |
Employees of the Knox County Landfill no longer have a contract to worry about.
At a special meeting called to prevent weeks of suspense, ten present County Board members Thursday night signed off on the new deal.
"The raises are two-and-a-half percent and it is a 2-year contract," Landfill Administrator Jerry Reynolds said. "Only a 2-year contract, this way it puts all the contracts in about the same negotiating time, and we also kept the same longevity pay schedule, which that didn't alter, but we just altered the base rate by two-and-a-half-percent."
Reynolds was the county's only representation during five months of negotiations with the Operating Engineers Union. A Peoria attorney engaged the union through collective bargaining.
Reynolds says the contract also includes random drug testing, with no second chances.
"They kind of bargained us pretty heavy on that, but we worked out what we came up with and no second chance on that," he said.
Other highlights include a one week carry-over of vacation time into the next year, but only a thirty day pay-out on retirement-- a change from forty-eight days.
A fifty-fifty split in health insurance, beyond an eighty-five dollar contribution from the county and fifteen dollar give from the union, was also agreed upon.
The contract is retroactive to December one.
There were no union members present at Thursday night's special meeting, which Chair Greg Bacon said he called to ensure they'd be paid at the next pay period. |
|
| 05 03 12 by Newsroom |
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
