WAGE SETTLEMENTS and RELATED DEVELOPMENTS
UPDATED 2.12.04
Ed. Note: We do not negotiate a contract and particularly wages and health insurance benefits in a vacuum. In fact, it is a combination of our own day to day circumstances and the circumstances surrounding us which meld together and lead reasonable people to realistic conclusions regarding the ultimate fairness of any settlement. The following is a dynamic listing of wage settlements and related information from reasonably related fields all of which is necessary background to any negotiations. We understand that the "highlights" of any settlement only tell part of the story, and we will continue to update the level of details as they become available.



THE CHIEF, 2.13.04
1500 Port Authority Police will see a 25% increase in salary over 7 years.
2003 – 3.75%
2004 – 3.75%
2005 – 3.5% (for those with 1 year or more of service)
2006 and 2007 – 3%
2008 and 2009 – 4%

THE SARATOGIAN, 1.21.04
Saratoga County officials were granted a 3.5 percent raise Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors, the same percentage given to most unionized county employees.


ALBANY TIMES UNION, 12.9.03
Albany County approves a 4% raise for 800 non union workers giving them the same increase as most unionized employees.

ALBANY TIMES UNION, 12.6.03
Shenendehowa teachers reach 3 year contract: 3%, 1.2%, and 3.14%. Other terms include Longevity increases up to 25 years and health insurance and prescription give backs.

NY TIMES 10.27.03 Excerpts from “Gains in Wages Expected to Give Economy a Lift” by DAVID LEONHARDT and EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Wage increases for employees at almost all income levels are giving important and unexpected support to the nation's economy. If the gains continue, they offer hope that the rapid economic expansion of recent months could prove more durable than other spurts of growth over the last two years.
Hourly wages have already surprised most economists by growing more quickly than inflation since 2001 in spite of the worst decline in employment in 20 years.
The wage gains have not been enough to overcome the economy's problems, however. Many families still have less income than they did a year ago because companies have reduced their workers' hours, and health care costs have risen rapidly. But economists say that the wage raises have provided a buffer, allowing consumer spending to continue rising every quarter for the last 12 years, according to the Commerce Department.
According to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington research group, hourly wages have increased more sharply than at any time since early 2002 — more than 2 percent, after being adjusted for inflation — for a median of about $14 an hour.
Another government survey suggests that wage growth is falling but remains above the annual inflation rate, which is roughly 2 percent. Wage increases trailed inflation for long periods during the 1980's and early 90's.


Associated Press 10.24.03
Federal lawmakers will get pay raises in 2004. The Senate voted 60-34 Thursday to reject a proposal to exempt them from a cost-of-living increase that will go into effect next year for all civilian federal workers and military personnel. The House took similar action last month.

The COLA increase would be the fifth straight for members of Congress, increasing their pay next year from the current $154,700 to about $158,000. Vice President Cheney and Supreme Court justices will see similar increases in their paychecks.

-Source: PEF’s Anti-Privatization Unit, 10.23.03
NYS APPROVES 3.1% RAISE FOR ITS CONTRACTORS! 3.1% for 2003-04

NYS has recognized the increased cost of living by increasing the rates paid to temporary contract employees and their employers.  The Office of General Services sent notice to all agencies that use private contractors that provide temporary personnel that the billable rates for services have been increased by 3.1% to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).  The raises are effective for 3/7/03 through 3/6/04 and affect a variety of titles such as: Dentist, Psychologist, Social Worker, Pharmacist, and Nurse. (For example, the billable rates for temporary Registered Nurses employed Western New York have been increased to $65.92 per hour from $63.94 per hour.  On an annual basis, this represents compensation in excess of $128,000! )

FREE PRESS STAFF, ASSOCIATED PRESS and UAW 6000 website – 10.23.03
Bargainers for UAW Local 6000, Michigan’s largest state employee union representing 17,500 workers, agreed Wednesday to defer upwards of $60 million of their member’s wages through the use of a VRWS type program

If ratified, the UAW contract would give its members 38 hours of pay for 40 hours of work each week and place the unpaid hours into a time bank for the employee’s future vacation use or toward their retirement accounts.


Source: MOA between Rensselaer County and the UPSEU Local 424
A 3 year contract provides UPSEU represented employees of Rensselaer County with the following raises
1.1.03 – 1.5%
7.1.03 – 1.5%
1.1.04 – 3.25%
1.1.05 – 3.5%

The CHIEF, 9.26.03
Nassau County Police Officers will receive raises of just over 21 percent and improved longevity steps under a six-year contract award issued by an arbitration panel. The County won a number of cost-saving contract changes including a retroactive one year wage freeze, an additional freeze of six months in 2005, ability to “civilianize” up to 100 positions currently held by officers, a change in the number of hours used to calculate holiday pay, overtime pay and shift differentials, a loss of 1-3 holidays depending on hire date, and the right to reduce minimum staffing in car assignments. The County did not achieve its goal of having the police pay 50 percent of their health insurance costs.
The wage package is as follows:

2001 - Wage freeze
2002 - 3.9 percent effective January 1
2003 – 3.9 percent effective January 1
2004 – 3.9 percent effective January 1
2005 - 3.9 percent effective July 1, 2005
2006 – 3.9 percent effective July 1, 2006


The TIMES HERALD 9.25.03
Cattaraugus County lawmakers approved a 5 year contract with the unions representing 1000 of its employees.
-3% retro to 1.1.03
-$0.70 per hour 2004
-3.75% 1.1.05
-$0.70 per hour 1.1.06
-3.5% 1.1.07
The pact included health care co-pay, bi-weekly deductibles and prescription drug concessions.

The TIMES HERALD 9.24.03
Olean firefighters ratified a new 4 year contract with the city that includes a 10% contribution from new firefighters toward health insurance premiums and raises of 3% for the first two years and 3.5% for the 3rd and 4th years. The pact mirrors raises recently negotiated with the city police

USA TODAY , 9.23.03
Employee pay raises are projected at about 3.6%, according to a September survey of 1,276 companies by human resource consultants Hewitt Associates. Salary increases in 2003 averaged 3.4% and were the smallest in 27 years.
Similarly, in a poll of more than 1,700 companies, Mercer Human Resource Consulting found average pay hikes in 2004 would be about 3.5%. That marks the third consecutive year that annual pay increases have fallen below 4%.
"Companies can't raise prices ... so any salary increases come out of bottom line," says Steven Gross, a compensation consulting leader at Mercer. "It's a lousy proposition for workers."
Pay freezes are thawing, because employers are somewhat more optimistic the economy will turn around. The Hewitt study found only 2% of firms are expected to have a freeze next year, down from 8% in 2003.
Raises are closer to 4% or higher in a number of major cities such as Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington. Amounts can also vary within companies: In order to keep top performers, some companies are giving heftier raises, such as 5%, to stars, while giving nothing to the weakest.
One possible factor behind the cautious approach is that overall compensation costs are climbing. Benefit costs rose 6.3% for the year ending June 2003, according to the Department of Labor, in large part because of the continuing rise in the costs for health insurance.

ASSOCIATED PRESS - August 28, 2003
“Citing a national emergency that has existed since the 2001 terrorist attacks, President Bush said Wednesday he will cut the pay raises that most civilian federal employees were to receive in January.”

Federal employees were to receive a 2.7 percent across the board raise and an increase based on private-sector wages in the areas where they work, called locality pay beginning in January 2004. The average increase would have amounted to 4.1% The raises have been cut to an average of 2 percent (1.5 percent plus .5 percent for locality pay.)

THE CHIEF LEADER, AUGUST 1, 2003
Members of the largest union in economically challenged Nassau County – CSEA Local 830 - overwhelmingly approved a 5 year contract for its 5800 members. The deal (Jan. 1, 2003 – Dec. 31, 2007) includes a six month wage freeze followed by a 2.5 percent wage hike on July 1, 2003 and continues with raises at the start of the next four years pegged to inflation with a minimum increase of 2.5 percent and a maximum of 3.5 percent. In addition the deal includes a “no lay-off” clause tied to the State’s approval of a sewer and storm water authority. The deal also included an extension of the actual work time by 15 minutes per day.

ALBANY TIMES UNION, 7.30.03
Two recent surveys one by the Mercer Human Resource Consulting Inc. and the other by the Conference Board predict average pay increases nationally at 3.3 percent to 3.5 percent this year and plan about the same next year. The Mercer study was based upon a survey of 1700 companies. About 12 percent of the companies surveyed by Mercer have imposed a pay freeze for at least some of their workers this year, down from 16 percent in last year's survey.

The Conference Board data is for overall compensation (not just wages). Regular readers of this site know that the NYS Division of Budget has also forecast overall compensation increases for the next 2 years in the 3.5 to 5 percent range.


WASHINGTON POST 7.25.03
Military and civilian federal employees alike would get a 4.1 percent pay raise next year under a measure approved July 24, 2003 by the House Appropriations Committee. The proposed raise, included in the House's Transportation/Treasury appropriations bill, rejects a plan sought by President Bush in February that would provide a two-tiered increase, giving the military a 4.1 percent increase and civilian employees 2 percent.

As with the 2003 pay raise, Congress is asking agencies to absorb the cost above the Bush request from their operating budgets. That would be about $2.1 billion in 2004. "It comes out of the agencies' operating budget, so it has no impact on the ($450 billion) deficit“ Wolf said.

The Senate historically supports the House recommendation in this area.

BNA, “Labor Relations Reporter”, July 21, 2003
“State and local government contracts reported in the first six months of 2003 provided an average first year increase of 3.2 percent and a median of 3 percent, compared with gains of 4.2 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively, in the first half of 2003.”


ALBANY TIMES UNION, July 3, 2003
A one year contract with no raise and an increase in employee health care contribution was reached for the 18 school board district administrators of Troy. The agreement is “the first concessions agreed to this year by any of the district’s unions”.

NEW YORK TIMES, July 2, 2003
New Jersey reached tentative agreements on new contracts yesterday afternoon with the two unions representing Turnpike and Parkway toll collectors. The parties agreed to a wage freeze the first year and spread an 11 ½ % increase over the last 3 years of the 4 year deals.

ASSOCIATED PRESS. July 1, 2003
Virtually on the eve of the bankruptcy of the Pennsylvania Health Benefits Fund, the State reached a tentative 4 year contract with 3 of its Unions. The agreements cover more than 48,000 State employees and call for a wage freeze in the first 2 years as well as raises of 3% in the third year and a 3 and ½ % raise in year four. The agreement also shifted a portion of the health insurance premium, currently paid for entirely by the employer, to the employees in the 3rd year of the contract.

ALBANY TIMES UNION, June 14, 2003
Julie Blair Nursing Home and SEIU 1199 agreed to a contract which provides nursing assistants, food workers and housekeepers 4% raises in both 2003 and 2004, reductions in employee out of pocket health insurance expenses and bonus payments.

ALBANY TIMES UNION, June 6, 2003
The City of Albany and its teachers union, APSTA (AFT) reached a new 3 year contract. Under the agreement teachers will get pay increases of 2.5 percent in each of the first two years and 3 percent in the third year. In the second year teachers will begin paying 3 percent of their health insurance premiums. “In future years” Elementary school teacher will be adding 30 minutes a week to allow for team and individual planning periods while “some high school and middle school teachers will teach an extra period.”
Associated Press, June 3, 2003 – The contract covers 34,000 New Jersey employees represented by CWA. It includes a pay freeze for 2003, 2.9 percent pay raise on July 1, 2004, and a 2 percent increase on July 1, 2005. There would be two pay hikes in 2006 — a 2 percent raise on Jan. 1 and another of 2.25 percent on July 1. The final pay raise of 2.35 percent would be given on July 1, 2007.
The Union and the State agreed to increase the amount workers contribute to the state pension system from 3 percent to 5 percent.
In the health insurance area, the contract calls for increases in the amounts of medical co-pays for state workers. The yearly deductible would rise from $100 to $250; office visits would go from $5 to $10; generic drug prescriptions would increase from $1 to $3; and brand name drugs would cost $10, up from $5. The agreement increases the number of workers who receive health benefits by newly covering intermittent employees who accumulate more than 750 hours of work.
- DAILY GAZETTE: CSEA MEMBERS OK 1 YEAR CONTRACT – 5.23.03 – Montgomery County union members represented by CSEA Local 829 will receive a 2.5 percent salary increase for 2003

- NY TIMES, Michael Cooper reports: MANHATTAN CITY AND DETECTIVES REACH AGREEMENT – 5.23.03 - The city reached a tentative contract agreement yesterday with the union representing New York City's detectives that raises their pay and benefits by 11.5 percent over two and a half years. The deal, which is retroactive to 2001 and expires next February, would raise the salaries of third-grade detectives to $61,670 from $55,936 and first-grade detectives to $79,547 from $72,151, officials said. Thomas J. Scotto, the president of the union, the Detectives' Endowment Association, said he expected the union's membership to ratify the contract.   Michael Cooper (NYT) 5/23/03

- THE JOURNAL NEWS reports “Mayor Joseph Delfino and the White Plains Common Council plan to give themselves a 3.75 percent raise in fiscal 2003-04.” May 16, 2003

- SEIU NEWS, April 30, 2003, reports that 28,000 NYC apartment workers settle their contact with wage gains in each year of the multi year agreement. The contract was reached 70 minutes after the strike deadline following a marathon bargaining session. Under terms of the new three-year pact, union members will receive salary increases of about 2.8 percent per year above the cost of living as well as increased employer contributions to their health and pension funds. In the first year, residential building workers will see wage increases of $18 to $21 per week, depending on job classification.

- The U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday, April 29, that U.S. workers' wages and benefits rose by a surprising 1.3 percent in the first three months of 2003, the biggest increase in nearly 13 years. The increase in the employment cost index for the January to March quarter was nearly twice as big as the 0.7 rise posted in the fourth quarter of 2002. USDOL reported that wages and benefits in the first quarter were growing more quickly than the 0.8 percent advance that economists expected.

The 1.3 percent rise registered in the first quarter was the largest increase since the second quarter of 1990, when compensation went up by the same amount. The costs of benefits, such as health insurance and vacations, continued to outpace wage gains. Benefit costs rose by 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2003, following a 1.3 percent advance in the prior quarter. The increase in benefit costs in the first quarter was the largest in 15 years.

- ALBANY TIMES UNION - Firefighters Reach Agreement: City officials and Firefighters Association Leaders in the city of Cohoes reached a new contract which includes across the board raises as follows
- 3%, 2001
- 3%, 2002
- 4%, 2003
- 3 1/2%, 2004


- CONNECTICUT STATE EMPLOYEES - NEWSDAY, April 22, 2003, reports that the 6,000-member clerical union reached a labor deal with the State of Connecticut. The agreement includes a 3-percent pay raise in the first year, effective June 23; a wage freeze in the second year; a 2.75-percent increase in the third year that would be delayed three months; a 2.5-percent increase in the fourth year; and an agreement to re-negotiate wages in the fifth year.


- CHIEF LEADER April 11, 2003 "Principals Get 8% Hike, No Givebacks" -
The NYC Council of School Supervisors and Administrators reached a contract with the Bloomberg administration that hews to the city wage pattern. The contract runs from April 1, 2001 to June 30, 2003 and contains raises starting at 8%. For some the ATB’s will reach 11%.


- TIMES UNION, March 25, 2003 “Schenectady, police union approve new contract
Schenectady-- Deal provides 12.5% pay raise over 4 years, drug tests, other management gains.” “The Police Benevolent Association made the concessions in return for a 12.5 percent pay increase over the course of the four-year pact, which will expire on Dec. 31, 2005. The pay increase includes approximately $200,000 in retroactive pay for last year, the first year of the contract.”


- NEWSDAY, March 19, 2003, BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The police union and Buffalo officials signed a five-year contract Wednesday that implements one-officer patrol cars and raises officers' top base salary to $64,095 within four years. The contract also gives officers an across-the-board increase of $5,000, a 3.4 percent annual increase, guarantees no one will be laid off or reduced in rank through 2007, revamps schedules and creates nonunion "commanders" who would manage each of the city's five police districts.

- NYS- NEA “ADVOCATE” February, 2003
A) - Adirondack Community College ESP Association’s 3-year contract includes salary increases of 3% + $260 for 2002-2003 and 3% + $205 for each of the remaining years. Other gains: life insurance at twice the employees’ salary, and a 1-year freeze on health insurance premium increases.

B) - Gloversville Office Personnel Association’s 3-year contract includes salary increases of 4.5% + $400 for typists for the year 2001-2002. Second and 3rd year increases: 3.25% + $200 and 3.25%, respectively. Other gains: New longevity step at 10 years plus increases to all longevity steps.

C) - Peru Association of Teachers’ 3-year contract includes salary increases of 4% for 2001-2002, and 4.5% and 4.25% for the remaining years,. Other gains: Teaching Assistants add new step in years 2 and 3; payment of unused sick leave at retirement increases; retirement benefit increases.
 
D) - Bethlehem Central Teachers 3 year contract providing salary increases of 5.6 percent, 5.2 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

- BNA's "Government Employee Relations" Report dated February 25, 2003. Federal employees will receive a 4.1 percent average pay increase in 2003 retroactive to the beginning of January under a bill signed by President Bush on February 20. The bill was overwhelmingly approved by both houses of Congress on February 13.

In December, 2002 Bush signed an executive order granting 3.1 percent raises to federal civilian employees and 4.1 percent raises for military personnel. This recently signed bill corrects the disparity.

The Bush administration's recent 2004 budget proposal calls for a 2% across the board pay raise for federal employees plus $500 million for performance bonuses.

-January 9, 2002 State workers in Nebraska reach a tentative agreement. 1.5% 2003, 2% 2004, and freeze contractual step pay plan that would have provided 2.5% in each year. Reduce cost to employees of prescription drug co-payments.

-NY TIMES January 5, 2002 – Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYS Governor appointees) and the Transport Workers Union Local 100 (representing 34,000 subway and bus workers in NYC) - $1000 one time payment 2003, 3% 2004, 3% 2005; plus “nearly $400 million more over three years to safeguard health coverage”.

-TIMES UNION December 6, 2002 – “All Albany County employees should see raises next year, after all – unless they were elected to their jobs”…. “4% cost of living raises for workers whose jobs are not covered by union contract and who make $50,000 or more a year”

-BUFFALO NEWS 12.3.02- Niagara County Community College faculty pay “will rise 2 percent in the current academic year, 3 percent in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 and 4 percent in 2005-06”

-NY TIMES 6.11.02 - “District Council 37 and most other city unions received raises of 9% over 27 months in contracts that averaged a 4% raise each year”.

-NY TIMES August 7, 2002 - “The union, the bus companies and the city (NY) reached a tentative deal on Saturday” 27 month agreement is retro to 1/1/01 and provides for 4% in 2001, 4% in 2002 and another 1% on March 31, 2003.

-THE CHIEF LEADER - UFT and NYC reach settlement for 80,000 Teachers
ATB 16% (compounded) 4% 11/16/00, 5% 11/16/01, 6% 9/1/02
Raise starting salaries by 22.3% “State lawmakers have included $400 million in the new state budget to pay for and sustain the 6% pay hike”

-NY TIMES September 19, 2002 – 3000 health care employees in NY area receive a 20% increase over 15 month agreement.

-WALL STREET JOURNAL September 15, 2002 - “Salary freezes will be rare next year, and raises are likely to be slightly higher overall.” “On average, salary increases are expected to be 3.9% for salaried overtime-exempt employees, 3.8% for salaried union workers and non-union hourly workers, and 4.1% for executives, according to a survey of 1,045 companies by consultant Hewitt Associates.”

-TIMES UNION – City of Albany and Albany Blue Collar Workers Local 1961 receive back to back 3% raises on December 31, 2002 and January 1, 2003, 4% in 2004 and 5% in 2005

-TIMES UNION – City of Albany and Albany Permanent Professional Firefighters Association receives 0% for 2002, 1% January 2003, 1% July 2003, 2% for 2004 and 3% 2005 and “heftier retirement and insurance benefits”.

-NYS DOL Collective Bargaining Settlement Report, August 2002 – City of Troy and CSEA 3% 1/1/02, 3% 1/1/03, 3% 1/1/04, 3% 1/1/05, 3% 1/1/06, 3% 1/1/07

-NYS DOL Collective Bargaining Settlement Report, August 2002 –Columbia County and UPSEU 3% 1/1/01, 3.25% 1/1/02 and 3.5% 1/1/03

-NYS DOL Collective Bargaining Settlement Report, August 2002 – Rockland County and CSEA 4% 1/1/02, 3.75% 1/1/03

-NYS DOL Collective Bargaining Settlement Report, August 2002 – Ulster County and CSEA 3% 1/1/03, 3% 1/1/04 and 3% 1/1/05

-NYS DOL Collective Bargaining Settlement Report, August 2002 – Sulfolk County Community College and AFT Local 3038 2% 9/1/02, 3% 9/1/02, 3% 9/1/03 and 3% 9/1/04