WESTFIELD – At a meeting of the Westfield School Committee Monday evening, the final contractual agreements were hashed out with the secretaries and custodians of the district.
The secretary’s contract includes an extensive list of nineteen agreements similar to those granted to the district’s teachers, including bi-weekly direct deposit, a promise to put all employees on electronic pay information within the year, and the ammendment of the current sick-leave and short term leave policies.
The new agreements also includes a move to ammend the retirement extension provisions to match those of Unit A, which will lead to a three year severance pay-out provision.
New “Christmas shut-down” protocols have been adopted, in addition to delayed work time start in the case of inclement weather.
Another implementation which will be put into effect in July 2014, when ten month secretaries will be required to work additional days, five after the last day of school is in session for students, ten days prior to the first day of school, and five more days either over summer break or any school vacation, at the mutual agreement of the secreatary and their supervising principal or administrator.
Adjustments have also been made to pay schedule for the three-year contract, with secretaries seeing an increase of one percent going into effect on the first of the year.
Westfield Mayor and School Committee Chairman Daniel M. Knapik is excited about the new agreements.
“It was voted on in open session,” he said of the contract agreement. “It was just agreeing on nuances here and there.”
The raises, which will start in January, along with future severance payouts, were two issues that Knapik is glad to have resolved.
“If you’re doing something with wages, you also need to figure out severance,” he said.
Knapik added that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union which represents the secretaries, and the Westfield Public School Custodian Association will be represented on the city’s Other-Post Employment Benefits, or OPEB, advance committee, which also includes management and the city’s legal representation.
“Both parties worked hard to find common ground,” said Jeffrey Krok, labor counsel for the city’s employees. “A number of bargaining sessions occurred, and an agreement was struck worked for all.”
“Both sides adequately represented their constituents in order to get a deal done,” he said.
On the side of the custodians, fourteen agreements were reached between the city and the Westfield Public School Custodian Association, notably the extension of the current collective baragining agreement for an additional three year run which began this summer and will run until June 30, 2016.
Modifications to the contract include time in which custodians can use vacation time, agreeing that if an employee is entitled to two weeks of vacation, five days may be used when school is in session.
With each additional week of vacation, two days are to be added onto the days to be taken when school is in session until the employee reaches five weeks, when they would be required to take eleven days when school is in session.
Under the new agreement, sick days may now be interpreted to include home exigencies, a quarantine as ordered by the Health Department, or a serious illness to a family member requiring the employee’s care.
The city and it’s custodians also agreed to modify the three month half personal day sick-initiative to allow for nine months for the use of the half day.
It also been agreed upon that a retirement extension provision matching that of Unit A be implemented, along with an update allowing for the reopening of discussion on bidding procedures, as well as health and other insurances.
An update to the custodial severance pay policy has also been implemented, with each unit member hired after July 1, 2014, with an employee receiving $50 a day for zero to 74 sick leave days accumulated, or a $5,000 flat rate for 75 to 159 days, or a $7,500 flat rate for 160 or more accumulated sick days, which matches the secretarie’s buy back policy.
A one percent wage increase is also set to take effect for custodians on the first of this coming year, with a two percent increase coming in July, and a three percent increase coming in July 2015.
