The Ithaca Journal (New York), November 20, 2007, Tuesday
Copyright 2007 The Ithaca Journal (Ithaca, NY)
All Rights Reserved
The Ithaca Journal (New York)
1 Edition
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1B
HEADLINE: Town public works employees seek union status
BYLINE: Krisy Gashler
BODY:
The Ithaca Town Board voted unanimously Monday night to work with employees of the town's Department of Public Works as they seek to join the Teamsters union, Local 317.
The employees include laborers, equipment operators, maintenance workers, mechanics and engineering technicians. They have never before been represented by a union.
In accordance with the Teamsters' wishes, the board passed a resolution authorizing a neutral third party, The Rev. David Jones of Bethel Grove, to verify that a majority of the employees have designated the Teamsters union through authorization cards.
Town Supervisor Cathy Valentino said "it is a very solid majority that signed with them."
Town Highway Superintendent Fred Noteboom said his public works employees first started talking about wanting to join the Teamsters about a month ago. He said employees have mentioned several reasons for wanting to unionize, including better health benefits and changes in town government.
Town Board member and Supervisor-elect Herb Engman defeated current 12-year Supervisor Cathy Valentino in the Democratic primary Sept. 18. In the Nov. 6 general election, Engman ran unopposed.
"The general climate, I guess, some people are concerned," Noteboom said. "Changes are coming to the town. Cathy's leaving pretty soon, she's been here for years. I've heard that mentioned, I don't know if that's got to do with it."
Engman said that concern had not been expressed to him, and he believes he and the rest of the town board will be fair negotiators for town employees in the future.
"This town board is very union friendly," he said. "I've advocated for collective bargaining rights for farm workers for 30 years." Engman was director of the Cornell migrant program.
Board members Jeff Cowie and Pat Leary both work for Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and board member Will Burbank recently helped negotiate a union for substitute teachers in the Ithaca City School District, Engman pointed out.
Engman said he thinks a bigger reason might be the smaller pay increase town employees received as compared to last year.
Last year town employees received an increase "well over four percent," but this year their pay increase was 2.7 percent.
"There's sort of an emotional reaction to salary increases. You're overjoyed when you get the higher one, but when you get the lower one, it's hard to reconcile," Engman said.
Town board members and the town supervisor will receive a 2.2 percent salary increase in 2008. The supervisor will make $45,967 in 2008. Each of the six Town Board members will make $8,335.20.
Salary increases are calculated based on "a combination of cost of living increases," Engman said.
"It's a matter of matching what employees would like with what the public can bear because there are folks out there that aren't getting increases as high as we're getting, and yet they're having to increase their taxes to pay those increases," he said.
Assisted-living proposal
The board heard a proposal for an 80-bed assisted-living center in the south edge of town off Route 13. The assisted-living center would accept Medicaid patients.
Developers Paul and Chris Vitale said that although Tompkins County has several assisted-living facilities, none are authorized through the state's Assisted-Living Program to accept Medicaid patients.
Currently, if seniors in the county require more care than they can receive at home and cannot afford to pay for assisted living, their only option is to enter a skilled nursing facility an option that is more restrictive for the senior and more expensive for the government.
The developers currently operate two similar assisted living centers in Geneva and Baldwinsville.
"We really pride ourselves on this being a first-class facility at an affordable rate," Chris Vitale said.
Engman and Burbank expressed skepticism about the plan because the center is located in a rural area and borders a conservation zone.
"It's a low-density area and we'll be urbanizing it," Burbank said.
"It's a state highway," Valentino responded.
Leary said the board should not dismiss the proposal because the assisted-living center could help low-income seniors and will not have an enormous traffic impact because many seniors in assisted-living centers do not drive.
"Kendal is way up there," Leary said, referring to the high-end assisted-living center in the north of town. "Kendal is out of most people's reach locally."
The board agreed to re-consider the issue at its board meeting in January because three board members were absent: Jeff Cowie, Peter Stein and Sandra Gittelman.
Gittelman is retiring from the board at the end of this year. Cowie is halfway through his four-year term. Stein was just re-elected to an additional four-year term.
LOAD-DATE: November 22, 2007
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