One Nazareth official is calling the public works department to the negotiating table.
Nazareth Borough Councilman Lance Colondo said it’s time to renew a union contract with the public works department. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)
Nazareth Borough Councilman Lance Colondo said Monday he wants a new contract completed this year with the union that represents eight borough employees.
The employees, who negotiate under the union banner Nazareth Borough Employees Association, have been working under the same terms of a contract that expired five years ago.
The 2012 collective bargaining agreement between the borough and the union ended in December of that same year. Without a new contract, council has continued to honor the 2012 contract each year.
Colondo said rumors that council is against raises for department workers are untrue. Council cannot increase salaries unless a new deal replaces the old one. The union has been unwilling to talk, according to Colondo.
“It’s not council that is unwilling to come to the table to negotiate,” Colondo said.
An effort to reach union representatives for comment was unsuccessful.
A sticking point preventing a new settlement has been employee health care contributions, according to Colondo. The union rejected a deal in 2013 that would have had union members pay $275 per year toward their insurance.
Poll: Should Pa. lawmakers give up their per diems?
That was a generous offer from the borough considering that proposed contribution would still be less than what private sector workers pay for coverage, according to Colondo. He pays about $1,000 per month for his personal health care plan and the union needs to be willing to start chipping in on costs, he said
He is happy with the work the employees do but the time has come to make a new agreement, Colondo said.
“This is something that needs to be negotiated this year,” Colondo said, “but you need to have two people at the table.”
John Best is a freelance writer. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
