County AFSCME workers to vote on pact today

Employees in Luzerne County’s largest union are set to vote on a new contract today, and the workers have the right to strike if it’s not accepted.

The proposed contract with the 300-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Residual Unit calls for two potentially controversial changes in 2011: a 10 percent health insurance contribution for all employees and a switch to 3 percent raises instead of a flat $1,000 increase, according to union members.

Union members were briefed on the contract at a 5 p.m. meeting Wednesday and will vote from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at the union hall in Wilkes-Barre, said union President Paula Schnelly.

Schnelly said she can’t predict whether or not the contract will pass. The union has been working under an expired contract since Jan. 1, and negotiations began last year, she said.

“We got the best offer that the county was willing to give us,” Schnelly said.

Union employees hired after the last contract was signed in 2005 already pay the 10 percent for health insurance, but the new clause would apply to all members.

Workers had attributed passage of the 2005 contract to the decision not to require health insurance premiums for existing workers – something that had been strongly pushed by county officials at the time.

The 10 percent health care contributions are currently $20.25 per pay period, or $526 per year, for single coverage and $49.48 per period, or $1,286 per year, for family coverage, union workers say.

The new 5-year contract calls for $1,000 annual raises in 2009 and 2010, switching to 3 percent annual increases from 2011 through 2013.

The union has never had percentage increases, and the switch means many workers will receive less than $1,000, workers say.

The residual unit’s average salary wasn’t available Wednesday, but it was $23,000 in 2005. The unit includes clerks, secretaries, phone operators, data entry staff and maintenance workers in several non-court departments.