City Council approves collective bargaining agreement - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

City Council approves collective bargaining agreement

Toledo City Council has approved the new economic terms of a collective bargaining agreement between AFSCME Local 3411 and the Toledo Municipal Clerk of Court.

The three-year agreement is effective beginning January 1, 2013.  It provides for a zero percent (0%) wage increase in 2013, followed by a two percent (2%) increase in base wage rates effective January 2014, and a two percent (2%) increase effective January 2015.

The agreement also provides for an annual decrease in the PERS pick-up for those employees who currently receive that benefit.  The current PERS pick-up is eight and a half percent (8.5%).  In July 2013, the PERS pick-up will be reduced to five percent (5%).  In July 2014, the PERS pick-up will be reduced to two percent (2%).  In July 2015, the PERS pick-up will be eliminated (0%), and the affected employees will be required to pay their entire PERS contribution amount.  In exchange for this reduction in the PERS pick-up, each affected employee will receive a one-time, lump sum payment of $1,250 in July 2013.  Any employee hired after January 1, 2010 will continue to be required to pay the entire cost of his or her PERS employee contribution unless the employee is a current employee of the Clerk's office or the City of Toledo.

Finally, the agreement continues to provide health care coverage for employees, but with increased monthly co-premiums, beginning in July 2013.  Those increases mirror exactly the rates of the majority of the City's bargaining units: AFSCME Local 2058, AFSCME Local 7 main Unit, Toledo Police Patrolman's Association, Toledo Police Command Officers' Association, and the Toledo Fire Chief's Association.  Like those other bargaining units, the employee co-premiums increase annually throughout the 3-year term of the agreement.

Toledo Municipal Clerk of Court Vallie Bowman-English says around 60 employees will be affected by the changes.