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04-22-2009, 10:41 PM
Correction officers ratify contract with concessionsBY RICK BRAND | rick.brand@newsday.com
10:03 PM EDT, April 22, 2009
Suffolk's correction officers ratified a two-year contract that will raise salaries 6.7 percent but make them the first union to agree to concessions by deferring some back pay due them instead of accepting a two-week lag payroll.
The 830-member union ratified the $18-million pact covering the years 2006 and 2007 by a vote of 582 to 85. The contract will raise the salary of a top-step correction officer with five years' experience from $65,441 to $70,548.
Vito Dagnello, correction officer president, said union members will defer about $3 million in back pay, or about $3,600 per member, that is due them rather than forego two weeks of pay during the current year. "With the retro that is coming to us, it's a lot easier to do this way instead of giving up a check," he said.
Dagnello said the agreement only guarantees no layoffs for this year. He said it will be difficult for the county to lay off his members since the county is planning to open a new jail.
Jeff Tempera, county director of labor relations, said the agreement "absolutely helps us send the message to the unions that one of them has stepped forward and we expect others to follow suit." While Suffolk has asked for a two-week lag payroll, Tempera said that the county is open to any concessions from other unions that reach the targeted $30 million.
The agreement follows an arbitration award last month for the years 2004 and 2005 that gave the correction union, which has been without a contract for six years, a $20-million package. The deal included 8.1 percent in raises and an average lump sum of $24,000 per officer, which will be made this fall.
Tempera said the new salary rates will take effect in about a month. Officials last night could not give an estimate of the amount of retroactive pay for each officer. However, Tempera said back pay on the new contract will not come until 2010.
In addition to the pay hike, the new contract provides an extra 0.25 percent stipend when correction officers are called on to do nontraditional duties such as anti-gang or anti-terrorism work, and increases annual cleaning and clothing allowances by $100.
It also alters part of the arbitration award that would have forced about 20 officers to pay back $27,000 each due to moving back the hours of night differential by two hours. In return, the county won concessions allowing it to impose a sick-time monitoring program, and increase waiting time for eligibility to the disability program but increase the length of coverage.
10:03 PM EDT, April 22, 2009
Suffolk's correction officers ratified a two-year contract that will raise salaries 6.7 percent but make them the first union to agree to concessions by deferring some back pay due them instead of accepting a two-week lag payroll.
The 830-member union ratified the $18-million pact covering the years 2006 and 2007 by a vote of 582 to 85. The contract will raise the salary of a top-step correction officer with five years' experience from $65,441 to $70,548.
Vito Dagnello, correction officer president, said union members will defer about $3 million in back pay, or about $3,600 per member, that is due them rather than forego two weeks of pay during the current year. "With the retro that is coming to us, it's a lot easier to do this way instead of giving up a check," he said.
Dagnello said the agreement only guarantees no layoffs for this year. He said it will be difficult for the county to lay off his members since the county is planning to open a new jail.
Jeff Tempera, county director of labor relations, said the agreement "absolutely helps us send the message to the unions that one of them has stepped forward and we expect others to follow suit." While Suffolk has asked for a two-week lag payroll, Tempera said that the county is open to any concessions from other unions that reach the targeted $30 million.
The agreement follows an arbitration award last month for the years 2004 and 2005 that gave the correction union, which has been without a contract for six years, a $20-million package. The deal included 8.1 percent in raises and an average lump sum of $24,000 per officer, which will be made this fall.
Tempera said the new salary rates will take effect in about a month. Officials last night could not give an estimate of the amount of retroactive pay for each officer. However, Tempera said back pay on the new contract will not come until 2010.
In addition to the pay hike, the new contract provides an extra 0.25 percent stipend when correction officers are called on to do nontraditional duties such as anti-gang or anti-terrorism work, and increases annual cleaning and clothing allowances by $100.
It also alters part of the arbitration award that would have forced about 20 officers to pay back $27,000 each due to moving back the hours of night differential by two hours. In return, the county won concessions allowing it to impose a sick-time monitoring program, and increase waiting time for eligibility to the disability program but increase the length of coverage.