Housing authority union willing to bargain on pension
A representative of the maintenance union for the Fayette County Housing Authority said Thursday the union is willing to have its members pay a small portion toward their pension benefit under a new contract. Dan Traficante, union steward for FCHA maintenance employees, said the union is willing to contribute 3/4 of a percent in each of the second and third years of the contract toward each employees’ pension amount, for a total of 1.5 percent in only the third year. Under the union proposal, maintenance employees would pay zero in the first year of any new contract.
Currently, the FCHA matches each union and administrative employee’s annual salary at 15.3 percent and contributes that money toward his or her pension account.
FCHA Chairwoman Angela M. Zimmerlink has been advocating for years that the amount the authority contributes toward employees pensions should be lowered. Zimmerlink said she would like for the FCHA to reduce the amount of contribution to the pension amount from 15.3 percent to 10 percent by the conclusion of the contract, adding that the figure could stay at 15.3 percent for the first year, and then drop to 10 percent for the second and third years.
For the 11 maintenance mechanics who earn $44,007 a year and currently receive an automatic annual contribution of $6,733 to their pension at the current 15.3 percent match, paying 1.5 percent of their salary as proposed by Traficante would cost them an additional $660, while the FCHA would pay $6,073 (13.8 percent) annually. Under Zimmerlink’s proposal, the FCHA would pay $4,400 (10 percent) for those same employees, who would each have the option of contributing up to an additional $2,332 (5.3 percent) annually.
The contract with the 24 maintenance union employees expired on June 30. Traficante said the proposed contract calls for wage increases of 40 cents, 35 cents and 40 cents per hour for each of the three years of the contract, an average of 2.2 percent per year. The four-year contract that expired on June 30 included annual raises of 3 percent, 2.875 percent, 2.75 percent and 2.875 percent.
Traficante added that making contributions toward the pension fund in the second and third years of the contract would correspondingly reduce any raises employees get.
Traficante pointed out that several years ago the union obtained health insurance through its plan for all of the approximate 90 FCHA employees, which resulted in a savings of $1.5 million over four years for the FCHA, which had been providing health insurance by other means. He said if the non-union administrative employees begin receiving health coverage through the FCHA, it would cost the authority about $300,000 per year. “When they say they are in financial straits, their spending habits don’t match their statements,” Traficante said.
“The whole thing comes down to we’re giving up something,” Traficante noted, adding that contributing 1.5 percent toward the pension by year three “is a start.”
Traficante and other union representatives said they could understand that the economy is not doing great, but Traficante added that the maintenance department has been a high performer and the FCHA has been receiving more federal money because of that. Traficante said this year the FCHA received an additional $400,000 because of the high-performer status.
For the current fiscal year of July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006, the FCHA federal operating subsidy is slated to decease to $3.8 million, down from last year’s allocation of $4.5 million, according to Zimmerlink.
With salaries ranging from $23,521 for the seven custodians, $29,120 for the six maintenance technicians and $44,007 for the 11 maintenance mechanics, Traficante said it’s not like they are getting rich working for the FCHA. He confirmed previous statements by FCHA board members that the only sticking point in contract negotiations is the pension amount the FCHA will contribute.
The tentative agreement calls for an average wage increase of 2.2 percent per year and employees do not have to contribute a co-pay toward the health insurance premium. Employees also will receive the additional benefits of transferring vacation in excess of 400 hours into sick leave and the option to sell back sick leave at a higher rate of pay if the employee has five years of employment at the time of separation.
Traficante said a meeting held Wednesday afternoon for all FCHA employees was designed to inform everyone on the status of negotiations, which he said have been “at a standstill.”
Traficante said when the union voted to approve a contract on June 28, it was his understanding that the contract issue was settled. Traficante said after the FCHA board of directors did not approve the contract, in mid-July a letter was received from the board of trustees of the union welfare fund that currently provides FCHA health insurance, notifying that health care coverage could be dropped for non-union employees.
Traficante said the union felt the FCHA did not bargain in good faith. Traficante said after the tentative agreement was reached, the negotiating team for the FCHA changed. He said everyone is getting frustrated and would just like to get the two sides to the table to talk.
A non-union employee who did not wish to be identified said she has been working for the FCHA for seven years and only makes about $24,000. She said while the pay isn’t great, the benefits are good, adding that the non-union employees receive pretty much the same benefits as the union employees.
“We’re really negotiating for 90 people,” Traficante said.
The FCHA board of directors has scheduled a special meeting for 8 a.m. today to discuss union negotiations in executive session and possibly vote on the contract.