An ordinance that would increase the salaries of unionized employees working in Plainsboro’s Department of Public Works and for the township’s emergency dispatchers is up for a public hearing and vote on Wednesday, September 9.
The Township Committee ratified the collective bargaining agreements with the two unions — the Teamsters for the Department of Public Works, and the Teamsters for the dispatchers — and subsequently introduced an ordinance putting into place the new salaries during its August 12 meeting.
Under the terms of the settlements, employees with the Department of Public Works will receive a 3.5 percent increase in 2007; an increase of 3.25 percent for 2008; and an increase of 3.25 percent for 2009. Also in 2009, similar to what the township has done with other collective bargaining units, the two unions have agreed to give up access to the more expensive of the township’s two health plans.
In compensation for the unions’ agreement to give up the access to the more expensive plan — which officials say has cost the township hundreds of dollars a month more for each employee than the second healthcare plan — the unit will get an additional .75 percent increase for 2009. In 2010 the employees will see 4 percent raises.
The dispatchers union has agreed to almost the same terms, with the exception that the dispatchers also needed to settle the 2006 year, for which they received a 3.5 percent increase. Like the Department of Public Works employees, they will also give up the healthcare plan and receive the same scheduled pay percentage increases.
